| With President Trump overseas, Vice President Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) – the designated Senate “sherpa” – are guiding Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh around Capitol Hill in search of the 51 votes he needs for confirmation in the upper chamber. Throughout the whirlwind day following Kavanaugh’s East Room debut, Senate Democrats faced an immovable fact: With only 49 seats in their caucus, they don’t have the votes to defeat the 53-year-old judge’s path to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. The Hill: Democrats grasp for way to stop Kavanaugh. The Hill tracked down three Democratic senators who are seeking reelection in November in states Trump carried in 2016 – Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.). How will they vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination? Each went out of their way to avoid reporters’ questions but one Democratic senator was blunt: “We have to lower the expectations of our base. We can’t defeat the nominee on our own.” – a Democratic senator who requested anonymity. Instead, the goal of the Democrats, according to reporting by The Hill’s Alexander Bolton, is to “inflict as much political damage on the GOP as possible ahead of the November midterm elections.” Liberal voters want Democratic senators to do more than delay and create temporary hurdles for Trump and Republicans. But if the Senate majority works together, Democrats are boxed in. “If they keep all their votes together, there’s nothing we can do.” – Senate Democratic aide, speaking on background. The Republicans The question marks are moderate Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), both of whom support abortion rights and could be swing votes in the confirmation fight. Collins has voted to confirm every Supreme Court nominee since she’s been in office, including Justices Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Samuel Alito and John Roberts. She also voted to confirm Kavanaugh to the Court of Appeals in 2006. On Monday, she told reporters she’d consider Kavanaugh’s judicial “temperament” and “philosophy,” but also noted: “It will be very difficult for anyone to argue he’s not qualified.” – Collins. The Boston Globe: Collins votes for GOP judicial nominees 99 percent of the time. Murkowski cast votes for the same GOP Supreme Court nominees as Collins but opposed Democrats Kagan and Sotomayor. She also voted to confirm Kavanaugh to the Court of Appeals. Murkowski has not said much about her thinking thus far, and she can expect to be hounded like this until she does: 
© Twitter The Democrats Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the Democrats opened a new line of attack on Tuesday, pointing to an article Kavanaugh wrote in 2009 in which he argued that it would “cripple” the federal government to pursue an indictment against a sitting president. “Why did the president stick with Kavanaugh? Because he's worried that Mr. Mueller will go to the court and ask that the president be subpoenaed. ... And President Trump knows that Kavanaugh will be a barrier to preventing that investigation from going there.” – Schumer Other Democrats are demanding that Kavanaugh recuse himself from any future case pertaining to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. This is all a long way down the road. But the special counsel’s investigation — both its findings and timing — complicate both parties’ political plotting through the fall. The Hill: Democrats use Mueller probe to attack Kavanaugh. More immediately, Democrats say Kavanaugh will be the court’s deciding vote in undoing Roe v. Wade. Kavanaugh has stated that he views the landmark abortion rights case as settled law, but Democrats will demand that he give his personal opinion on the ruling. That’s what Pence did in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, who asked the vice president if he believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned. “I do.” – Pence. The Hill: Democrats build abortion case against Kavanaugh. The Hill: Conservatives and liberals agree - nominee a pivotal vote on abortion. Schumer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, will be combing through Kavanaugh’s opinions, looking to slow the process and push it beyond the midterm elections. That’s unlikely to happen, although Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has acknowledged the challenges of pushing through a nominee with such an extensive record. 
© Twitter Grassley expects panel hearings around Labor Day and a confirmation vote sometime later in September. But the real heat on the Democratic side is on the 10 Democrats up for reelection in states Trump carried in 2016. Of these 10, five are on the record from the Gorsuch vote, with Heitkamp, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) voting in favor and McCaskill and Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.) voting against. On to the next 24 hours… | 
