WASHINGTON — Michael B. Mukasey appeared on Friday to be all but assured of becoming the nation's 81st attorney general when two Senate Democrats broke ranks and said they would support the retired federal judge to head the Justice Department.
While acknowledging serious concerns about his views on interrogation techniques, Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Charles E. Schumer of New York said they would vote to confirm Mukasey when the Senate Judiciary Committee takes up his nomination to succeed Alberto R. Gonzales on Tuesday.
In separate statements Friday afternoon, the lawmakers praised the 66-year-old New Yorker for his legal heft and independence and said they believed he would be a powerful antidote for the Justice Department, still reeling from Gonzales' two-year, politically charged tenure.
"First and foremost, Michael Mukasey is not Alberto Gonzales," Feinstein said. "Rather, he has forged an independent life path as a practitioner of the law and a federal judge."
She also cited Mukasey's extensive experience on national security issues and said his answers to lawmakers who have been probing his qualifications were "crisp and succinct, and demonstrated a strong, informed and independent mind."
Schumer said he believed Mukasey would "clean the stench of politicization out of the Justice Department."
"Judge Mukasey is not my ideal choice," Schumer said. But, he said, Mukasey was "far better than anyone could expect from this administration."
The twin announcements, coming within minutes of each other, were the latest twist in a six-week nomination saga in which Mukasey's confirmation at first seemed to be a foregone conclusion, then looked imperiled and now appears to be back on track.
His prospects had dimmed because of mounting concern after his confirmation hearing last month, when Mukasey refused to declare that a coercive interrogation technique known as waterboarding was illegal torture. His carefully worded explanation reminded some members of Gonzales, whose frequent evasions often disillusioned congressional Democrats and Republicans alike.
Schumer held a closed door meeting with Mukasey on Friday in which the nominee appeared to offer a crucial assurance: If Congress chose to enact a law banning so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, Bush would have to follow it.
