Some Republicans are threatening to retaliate and how Democrats respond to that threat may well determine their ability to maintain control of the Senate and retake the White House. The question is whether Democrats can give Republicans a dose of their own medicine or whether they will wimp out, as they’ve often done in the past.

Republicans have no compunction about engaging in a street fight.

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who said the defeat of his friend Pickering was a “personal” affront, has already blocked the Judiciary Committee’s $1.5 million request for post-Sept. 11 oversight operations. He has also moved to derail the nomination of Jonathan Adelstein, a longtime aide to Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.), to become a member of the Federal Communications Commission.

Lott said Adelstein, 39, is too young for the post. Michael Powell, the Republican chairman of the FCC, is only 38.

Even Democratic strategists, such as James Carville, are beginning to publicly acknowledge that part of the Democratic party’s problem in the past is that it has been unwilling to fight for what it believes in. Consequently, Republicans have been perceived as being strong, especially on defense, and Democrats have been seen as weak or cowards. All House members are up for re-election and the success or failure of the party in the November elections may be determined, in part, on how Democrats are perceived by the public.

Not only are Republican leaders more willing to fight, they will stoop to any level to make their point or to change the rules.

Throughout the Clinton years, the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee, refused to let many of the president’s nominations come to a Senate vote. During the last two years of the administration, 56 percent of the nominees to the court of appeals – the appointment Pickering sought -- were blocked.

After helping create numerous vacancies, Senate Republicans, who are now in the minority, are calling on Democrats to ignore 200 years of precedents and, if necessary, bypass the Judiciary Committee and let the full Senate vote on the nominations. Three conservative Democrats – Zell Miller of Georgia, Ernest Hollings of South Carolina and John Breaux of Louisiana – had already announced their plan to vote for Pickering and would likely be GOP allies in floor fights.

George W. Bush joined the Republican chorus at a recent press conference, urging a Senate floor vote on Pickering.

Not only are Republicans trying to change the rules, they have been unrelenting in their personal attacks on Daschle and other Democratic leaders. Right-wing think tanks have accused them of hampering the war on terrorism because they have not confirmed more Republican judges.

One reason fewer judges have been confirmed is because Bush has been slow to nominate candidates. In a statement issued last month, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, noted, “…More than two-thirds of the federal court vacancies continue to be on the District Courts…As we begin this session, 55 out of 69 District Court vacancies were without a nominee.”

Another reason the process is slow is that the Bush administration, breaking with a 50-year tradition, has refused to let the American Bar Association evaluate potential nominees before their names are submitted to the Senate, which must confirm all federal judges. In the past, the ABA review was conducted as the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted its background checks. By the time hearings were scheduled, both the FBI investigation and ABA peer review would have been completed.

Now, the Senate Judiciary Committee uses the ABA evaluations. However, because it comes so late in the process, the ABA imput can further delay the scheduling of Senate hearings.

After blocking Clinton’s nominations, Republicans want Democrats to accelerate the confirmation process.

This is as good a time as any for Democrats to discover some backbone and stop running away from a fight with Republicans. As Leahy observed, the Senate’s constitutional role is “advise and consent. It isn’t advise and rubber stamp.”