Balance of Power

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, D-Maine, didn't rate the presidential treatment but got word from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel Tuesday morning -- a gesture she said she appreciated.

"Indisputably, this is an historic selection, as Sonia Sotomayor is just the third woman to be nominated to The Court and the first Hispanic American," Snowe said. "I commend President Obama for nominating a well-qualified woman, as I urged him to do during a one-on-one meeting on a variety of issues in the Oval Office earlier this month."

Other politicians recalled Oval Office conversations with Obama that they implied help tip the selection process in favor of the 54-year-old jurist from the Bronx.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recalled a sit-down with Obama earlier this month during which he put in a plug for Sotomayor and told the president that "people whose legal opinions I greatly respect speak very highly of her."

"She has been an incredibly good federal judge, and having risen from humble beginnings in the Bronx, she brings a perspective that will serve the Court - and our nation - very well," Bloomberg said in a statement. "Her story is a perfect example of the kind of opportunity that is available in this City - and this country - to those who devote themselves to their dreams."

The apparent lack of advance knowledge reflected the administration's desire to avoid the kind of leaks that plagued its Cabinet selection process, by limiting vetting to a small group of senior advisers, including Emanuel, White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig and deputy counsel and Obama Harvard law classmate Cassandra Q. Butts.

Though Obama reached out to Senate Democratic and Republican leaders, as well as Judiciary Committee members who will preside at Sotomayor's confirmation hearing, the president apparently never deviated from the short list of nominees his staff began compiling in December.

The president's reluctance to provide lawmakers with advance notification additionally confirmed that Obama truly is a creature of the Senate, realizing the chamber is where the city's biggest news-leakers reside.