The American Spectator

ON HIS BEST BEHAVIOR br> Some Republicans were scratching their heads over Sen. Chuck Schumer ‘s apparent endorsement of Judge Michael B. Mukasey for Attorney General. But according to senior Senate Democrat leadership aides, all is not what it appears to be. /p>

Prior to Mukasey’s nomination by President Bush, Schumer and several other senior Democrat members of the Judiciary Committee met with Senate majority leader Harry Reid and his deputy, Sen. Dick Durbin. Schumer informed them that Mukasey had a good reputation in New York, and that he didn’t feel comfortable attacking him. Reid said that leadership would handle the “dirty work,” according to a Senate leadership aide.

“They aren’t going to put on the full court press on Mukasey, but they are going to make him sweat a bit,” says the leadership aide. “We’ll let the ACLU and other civil liberties groups go after him, and Reid and Durbin will put up a fight, but Schumer isn’t going to have to do too much. Mukasey’s record is good, there isn’t much there to push back on yet.”

That said, Schumer has asked his Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee to prepare fundraising materials attacking Mukasey should the opportunity arise to raise some campaign cash against him.

p> MARGINAL CALL br> Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani ‘s campaign stages the “unexpected” phone calls from wife Judith during his speeches, according to a campaign source.