The Washington Post looks at the pressure on Bush to pick a woman or a minority for the next Supreme Court. Conservatives want the best person possible. But other groups are fussing at Bush to appoint a Hispanic or a woman. This brings back the push for Alberto Gonzales. Apparently, Gonzales is appealing to the Hispanic community, particularly the more liberal Hispanic groups. But conservatives don't like him. And any attempt that Gonzales makes to appease conservatives irritates those liberal Hispanic groups. They want a Hispanic, but only one of the right flavor.

When he was nominated for attorney general, Gonzales was supported by several Latino organizations and prominent Democrats, and he has been gauging possible support within the Hispanic community, according to two sources.

Gonzales has been told, however, that apparent efforts to make himself more acceptable to conservative groups could compromise support among more liberal Latino groups. One person familiar with the attorney general's outreach said a Latino leader told Gonzales, "The community wants to be for you, but you're making it harder. You can't decide whether you want to be left of center or right of center. . . . You've got to be careful that they [White House officials] don't try to paint you as so far right."

With senators from both parties predicting that confirmation hearings for Bush's next nomination will be more contentious, some GOP strategists are convinced that a female or minority candidate could blunt the opposition.

One Republican with close ties to the White House, who declined to speak for the record to discuss more freely the possible considerations by administration officials, said, "This second one [confirmation battle] is going to be so politicized that, if it's not a woman, Latino or African American, then that's a hook for the Democrats to get real negative, which may be a battle he wants to fight. But it's easier to fight when your approval ratings are at 55 percent." Bush's approval ratings currently are in the low 40s.

Leonard A. Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, said Bush's decision should come down to a candidate's intellectual heft and judicial philosophy.

"The tenor of Supreme Court nominations these days is a lot like political campaigns," he said. "It matters far less what one's race or sex is. It is all about ideology. You won't get much of a political bump for any of those kinds of physical characteristics."

I still think all this bean counting on minorities is irrelevant since it is ideology that these groups really care about. The only thought is that people in general might like the idea of a minority candidate and that public support would mute some of the pressure from the liberal interest groups. But those senators who opposed Roberts aren't going to change their vote for a conservative woman or Hispanic so the whole point seems moot to me.