The marketing of Sonia Sotomayor

Mr. Romero has much in common with Sotomayor. Both are of Puerto Rican descent and from public housing projects in the Bronx. Both also attended Princeton University. And while the openly gay Romero is keenly interested in gay rights -- on the same blog post, he expressed major disappointment in the California Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday upholding the referendum that banned gay marriage in that state -- he did not hold back in his excitement about Sotomayor over that issue.

In navigating those first crucial days post-nomination, the Obama administration and its allies have demonstrated an awareness of the importance of a successful rollout. Past failed high court nominations -- most famously, that of Judge Robert Bork in 1987 -- were doomed almost from the start, when opponents grabbed the megaphone early and caught supporters flat-footed.

Now, more than 20 years later, some big pro-Obama guns were up on TV with an ad supporting Sotomayor the day after she was tapped.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Alliance for Justice, and People for the American Way banded together as the Coalition for Constitutional Values, which made the six-figure ad buy. The ad piggybacks on Obama’s popularity, using his voice as he laid out what he was looking for in a justice while Sotomayor’s credentials flashed on the screen. Top White House aides have been all over cable TV touting her virtues.

Tom Goldstein, a Supreme Court lawyer and influential blogger, declared Thursday afternoon that “it’s over” -- as in, Sotomayor will be confirmed. Of course, something could always come out on her that sinks her nomination, or she could stumble in her hearing.

But Mr. Goldstein virtually rules out her defeat based on her record as a judge -- the very record that has left some liberals standing back.

“The fact that she hasn’t written directly on most of the hot-button social issues -- abortion, gay rights, the death penalty, and separation of church and state -- left conservatives without a ready rallying point,” he writes.

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