Clement was probably never the final choice, but she was a good juicy bone to throw out for the media to grab hold of and run with.
While everyone was chasing thier tail to get all the information they could find on Clement, Bush was calmly setting things up to announce the real pick tonight without the media and Dems having everything prepackaged to start the assault immediately.
Now the news stories for tomorrow's papers will only be of WHO the nominee is. They will have to wait until the next news cycle to start the spin (aka Borking), and by then the American public will have lost interest already.
Howdy, Alabama neighbor.
I look forward to hearing the inside story of this nomination process.
No doubt the President made his choice a day or so ago and not just after getting out of bed this morning as one reporter has said. The rest, as you said, is bait and switch.