You weren't paying attention then, since her education was not an issue (although some may have taken potshots at it). Conservatives do not hit the trenches so that they can get a Harvard grad over an SMU grad, it's just silly to suggest that that might be the case.
And you either are not being honest, or you didn't pay attention. Right out of the box, the first complaints about Ms. Miers was where she went to school. Just yesterday, on one of the local talk radio programs here in the L.A. area, this argument was being used: She went to SMU, not one of the better law schools.