Senate Republicans are refusing to consider nominations for posts at several financial regulatory agencies.
The Armed Services Committee has a time-tested process to consider nominations, and I am committed to upholding that process.
On Tuesday, just hours before the board was to consider nominations and vote for an interim mayor, Mr. Newsom and his allies knew they needed a single vote more to push through Mr. Lee.
Mr. Paterson also called the Senate back into session at 1 p.m. on Saturday to consider nominations to various state boards and commissions, a move meant to force senators to convene by turning their own legal argument against them.
The group, heavy with traditional documentarians who produce for networks like PBS and the Discovery Channel, has traditionally had to consider nominations for shows like MTV's "The Real World" and Fox's "America's Most Wanted".
They considered nominations from a range of interested parties, including librarians, critics, writers and booksellers.
Having carefully considered nominations from all the other parties, he believed Mr Vital to be the best choice, he said.
Doing almost anything in the Senate today requires 60 votes, because Republicans, who will have 45 seats in next year's Senate, are blocking even procedural motions to begin debating bills or considering nominations.
The former children's television presenter Floella Benjamin chaired the panel of judges, which included children's book reviewers, lecturers and buyers, and the judges considered nominations from children, who could vote online, and organisations representing libraries, critics and writers.
Democrats who control the Senate and its Judiciary Committee, which sets the pace of considering nominations, have not held hearings on 8 of the 11, and Republicans complained that Mr. Bush's nominees were not being treated fairly.
