it's alito

No stealth candidate this time, Samuel "Little Scalia" Alito is very popular with the theocrats for his opposition to abortion and accommodating attitude to mixing church and state. He also has enough intellectual heft to please the right-wing intelligentsia that hammered poor Harriet Miers so hard.

The conservatives have shredded the idea that a president's choice should receive automatic approval; I imagine the Democrats will oppose Alito, but I doubt enough Republican senators will abandon Alito to make any difference. Look for him to be on the court by Christmas. This hunk of red meat should satisfy conservatives for at least a little while.