Alito Advocacy Fills Air of Swing States

Snowe and Collins pride themselves on being heirs to a long independent streak in their state's politics, unswayable by interest groups, said Christian P. Potholm, a professor of government at Bowdoin College. "For the two Maine senators, both sides would be better off if they just took the money and threw it into the Potomac River," Potholm said. "The advocacy groups don't care, but it's likely to be counterproductive."

Leaders of the most visible such groups dispute the sentiment that their efforts may prove ineffective.

Starting with the failed nomination of Robert H. Bork in 1987, interest groups have applied campaign-style techniques to Supreme Court confirmations, and both sides had been waiting more than a decade to release their pent-up forces. No vacancy on the court had materialized for 11 years until last summer's nomination of John G. Roberts Jr., now the chief justice.

"This is a splendid example of shoe-leather democracy," said Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal group People for the American Way, who has worked on every Supreme Court confirmation debate for three decades.

Neas said a coalition of about 70 groups opposing Alito has accomplished important steps in the pre-hearing phase. He said the coalition has defined the issues in the nomination, encouraged senators to remain undecided until the hearing, and raised money -- in addition to mobilizing its base.

In Maine, the scores of people who signed anti-Alito petitions along the route of the Rolling Justice tour included many who knew of the project because they already were on e-mail lists of MoveOn.org.

"I travel in a very politically engaged circle of people, and I think that people are very concerned" about his nomination, said Susan Dorr, a real estate broker who is a former state legislator and town selectman in Camden. She said she was one of about a dozen people who turned out when the tour passed through there.

Mike Duddy, a Portland lawyer and co-chairman of Mainers for Judge Alito, said that he offered to work with national groups, believing, "if there is not some presence on the ground to keep a level-headed voice, the opponents would completely occupy what would otherwise be a vacuum."

So far, he has been taking reporters' calls or appearing on talk radio perhaps once a week, but he has not attended any large pro-Alito events. "From my point of view . . . the level of interest seems to be muted," Duddy said. "I don't think it's completely ignored. Neither do I think it's the first thing people are thinking about."