and... They’re off!

So O’Connor has resigned. I’m betting Rehnquist will stick around as long as he can.

Either way, I think it’s still too early in the game to start making specific predictions. However, I see no reason to expect that the Bush administration would nominate anyone approaching a moderate, centrist candidate. They’ll either go with someone close to the administration who they think will put Senate Democrats in a tough spot, or a hard-line cultural conservative as a pay-off to their Christian Conservative constituency.

The way I see it, both options suck.