Loretta Lynch is not only embroiled in “the longest confirmation process for an attorney general in three decades” — as President Obama noted in his weekly address Saturday — but she has also easily cemented herself as one of the longest nominees-in-waiting of any Cabinet official in the past three White Houses.

It’s most unlikely she’s getting a vote this week, and when the Senate returns in mid-April after its two-week spring break, Lynch will have waited longer than any Cabinet nominee under Obama, George W. Bush or Bill Clinton for her confirmation vote.

The Loop, with the help of our graphics colleague Kevin Uhrmacher, crunched data available on Senate.gov to see how long every Cabinet nominee waited under the last three presidents. We were also curious whether the length changed when the Senate was a different party than the White House (it did).

Of the three administrations, the longest waiting nominee, to date, was Togo West, Clinton’s pick in 1998 for Veterans Affairs secretary. He waited 147 days to be confirmed, but he was in the role of “acting secretary” while he waited. He initially was held up because of Republican concerns over allegations that Clinton gave Arlington Cemetery grave plots to campaign donors. The Washington Post reported then that the General Accounting Office found no wrongdoing.

The next longest was John Bryson, Obama’s pick for Commerce secretary. Republicans held his nomination hostage until the Senate passed a package of free trade deals in 2011.

But most of the time the president gets who he wants for his team.

Former senator Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who was majority leader from mid-2001 through 2003, couldn’t recall a time the Senate delayed a Cabinet nominee vote for leverage.

“There are times when those nominees can become very controversial, and I think that has happened with both Democratic and Republican presidents, and both majorities,” Daschle told the Loop in an interview. “But I think there has to be a pretty unique set of circumstances to indefinitely delay a right to a vote.”

Lynch’s vote was first held over objections to her support for Obama’s immigration executive actions, then over Senate Democrats’ refusal to support a human trafficking bill because of its abortion language, and this week due to work on the budget.

Former senator Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who was majority leader from 1996 through mid-2001, said “slowing down or asking a lot of questions or even defeating nominations” is one way Congress can exert power over the executive branch. Most of the time the Senate gives the president “the benefit of the doubt,” he said, but in the case of Lynch: “She didn’t help herself. Republicans feel very strongly she defended something unconstitutional.” (He’s referring to the immigration action.)

“I think she’s going to get confirmed, but she can’t expect to be approved lickety split,” Lott told the Loop.

Still, Lott recalls that when he was in charge and there were issues with nominees or other things, he would simply call Clinton or Bush and hash it out. Clinton would call him to haggle for an extra few judicial nominees. Lott would call Bush at 7 a.m. to circumvent his staff. (No, Karl Rove was not happy.)

“If I was Mitch, I’d just call the president,” Lott said. “A big part of the problem is the lack of communication and respect for the institutions they represent.”

We asked Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office if he and the president had spoken by phone about Lynch. McConnell’s spokesman Don Stewart said he wasn’t aware of any calls.

Maybe start there, guys?