Last Friday morning, in a Hart Senate Office Building meeting room, legal counsel and some staff from People for the American way, NARAL, NOW, Alliance for Justice, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights held a pen and pad (no TV cameras) briefing for reporters and some Democratic Senate staff to discuss their opposition plans to the Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito.

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And that is why the Friday pen and pad was interesting to watch. According to Democratic leadership sources, Sen. Harry Reid was pressed in meetings and conference calls last week to allow his party and his caucus to go on the offensive against Alito. "Not just push back, we really want the knives to come out," says a leadership staffer. "The leader has been holding us back now for close to a month, and our caucus is getting itchy." 

After the latest set of documents was released, Reid relented but asked that Senators and their staffs work closely and coordinate with groups such as People for the American Way and NARAL for what Reid termed "the dirty work," according to Democratic staff who were briefed on the conversations.