The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8, along party lines, to recommend the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general. The National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights group, endorsed Gonzales, as did freshman Sen. Ken Salazar (D.-Colo.) Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has declined to threaten a filibuster of Gonzales's nomination, but is demanding extended debate so Democrats can again try to make political hay about the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, which they utterly failed to connect in any way to Gonzales. "I think there will be and there should be some extended debate on that," Reid was quoted as saying to the Washington Times. "And by 'extended' debate, I'm not talking about a filibuster."
