Today I attended a National Press Club lunch meeting with Virginia Governor Mark Warner. My host was veteran political strategist Jeff Trammell, who thought it would be a good idea for me to kick the tires of this presidential aspirant. Warner’s speech was not substantively poor, but it wasn’t memorable.

AP’s Liz Sidoti has a good article out that surveys the political consequences for various tracks the Bush administration may take on the Bolton nomination. Her piece yet again confirms what TWN noted earlier today — that withdrawing Bolton is not being seriously considered.

A highly placed State Department official has conveyed to TWN that this is “decision week” on the Bolton nomination. According to the source, “State Department and Administration principals will be deciding stategy — recess appointment or a further vote(s).” Note that there was no mention of withdrawal.

TWN hopes everyone is having a refreshing 4th of July weekend — and remembering that this Republic we have requires some hard work to keep. Squaring off over the replacement of retiring Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court will dominate the attentions of this town for some time.

John Bolton will never be confirmed now. Even if there was an up-or-down vote, all strategic bets will deal with how those on the far right, the far left, and moderates in the middle square off on successors to O’Connor and at some point, Chief Justice Rehnquist. It all begins now.

While most of the main stream media has been reporting that a recess appointment this week is likely — and they may be right — there are new signs TODAY that this probably will not occur next week.

Robert Kuttner hits the bull’s eye in a compelling survey of the “Bolton Endgame” in the Boston Globe today. Here is an excerpt: With the Senate having twice refused to break a filibuster over Bolton, President Bush may use his power to make a recess appointment during Congress’s Fourth of July break.

If President Bush sends John Bolton to the U.N. with a recess appointment, he is sending two signals that are really quite dramatically bad: 1. Bolton will hold one of America’s highest profile diplomatic portfolios without the validation of American citizens behind him.

Well, it’s fairly official. John Bolton’s nomination will not be brought up this week. This morning, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist went through an extensive list of what he hoped the Senate would consider this week before going into July 4th recess.

I have been offline much of the day as I’m working to see what Karl Rove’s machine is planning to do on John Bolton. The White House does not want to lose this battle over Bolton and is increasingly turning towards a recess appointment. But that deal is not done.