Alito vote delayed.

The Washington Post has this:

Democrats, anticipating that Alito ultimately will be confirmed, are trying to deny the White House that victory as long as possible, particularly in the days before the State of the Union address President Bush is to deliver Jan. 31. Although Senate rules do not enable them to defer the confirmation vote until after the speech, Democratic senators would like to reduce the victory period immediately before the speech, one of the broadest public stages the president commands each year.

As Jeff at Protein Wisdom points out:

Baldly partisan, revoltingly petty, personally unfair to Judge Alito and his family, and instituted—admittedly—for no other reason than to punish the GOP for its “victory” in nominating a qualified (and unanimously approved by the ABA ) SCOTUS replacement justice by shortening the period in which the story will receive extensive media play in advance of the State of the Union Address.

But hey, what do you expect? It's all about hurting Bush. That is their entire platform. Seriously.