congress would they prefer the fight, if their base is demoralized gin it up with a good court fight? >> reporter: it's a tough thing. if you gin up the base, that could help, especially in a year when. dids are not enthused and republicans seem to be. but the same token, specifically in the senate that we're talking about with the senate confirmation, there are a number of democrats especially the senate majority leader, harry reid who are coming from relatively conservative areas, conservative states, and the last thing they want is to be able to -- to have to defend a rather liberal nominee to their conservative voters. so that is something that i'm hearing, i'm sure jessica is, too, that may be quietly communicated to the white house that some democrats are say, you know what? let's just try to make this an easy one for that reason alone. >> and before we go, to the degree that the president's replacing someone, you look at what they did on the court. justice stevens was a negotiator, a tactician on the