The Tuesday morning announcement of a Supreme Court pick is a reminder of how a White House can drive the news cycle.  But it's also a reminder of what the loyal opposition didn't do.

For the last few weeks, there has been speculation on when the President would nominate someone for the Supreme Court.

Last week, there were even reports that Mr. Obama would name someone before leaving on an overseas trip in the first week of June.

So it wasn't really too off the wall to think that a nomination would occur either this week or next.

Tactically, this week seemed the smartest for the White House.  Why?

Because Congress is out of town on break this week, and that would mean likely GOP critics would be spread far and wide.

And they were.

I thought Republicans might have come up with a plan to "staff" DC with one GOP Senator from the Judiciary Committee, just to be able to lay down some markers on a nominee.

But there were no GOP Senators to be found in the Capitol on Tuesday.

So while President Obama spoke at the White House, there was no one speaking back, except in written statements.

Those statements might look good in the paper, but they don't resonate too well on radio and TV.

Why didn't the Republican hierarchy see this one coming? 

It's a reminder that if you are going to take on the White House, you better have all your bases covered.

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