Cochran Commits:

Sen. Thad Cochran (R.-Miss.), whose office wouldn't respond to HUMAN EVENTS' survey gauging GOP senators on the "nuclear option," offered his backing to Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) this week. "I will support him in his effort to bring this confrontation over judicial filibusters to an end," Cochran said in a statement. "There should be no question in anyone's mind about my intentions." Cochran's role as Appropriations Committee chairman makes him a key ally to Frist. It also gives Frist a critical boost at a time when conservatives are growing restless with his inaction. He had promised a vote on a Bush judicial nominee in February. Now, at the earliest, it will be the last week of April.