Republicans have now unleashed one of their infamous radio ads against Senate candidate Ron Kirk. The ad accuses him of siding with “liberal special interests” because of his opposition to President Bush conservative judicial nominees, especially Priscilla Owen, whose appointment is due to be heard before the U.S. Senate confirmation committee in the very near future. The ad is because of Kirk’s comments that he would not support Bush’s nomination of Owen, now on the Texas Supreme Court, for a seat on the already far-right New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That is the court that decides appeals from federal courts in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. 
 
Kirk’s opposition to Owen puts him in good company with a number of civil rights, human rights and women’s rights organizations. And, frankly, much of the opposition comes from moderates who find Owen more than a little terrifying. But the tenor of the ad suggests the Republicans are running scared because Kirk is raising lots of money and doing well in the polls. I don’t think she exhibits the evenhandedness, the temperament that I want to see in a federal judge,” Kirk said. “I do think they ought to have a hearing and they ought to vote her up or they ought to vote her down.” 

Good for Kirk. He is not saying anything the masses haven’t been saying and to his credit, he agrees with most of the major newspapers in the state that a confirmation vote should come quickly. Hopefully, the vote will be a negative one.

(Martin is a freelance political columnist living in Austin.)