The Providence Journal reports on President Obama’s nomination of trial lawyer John J. McConnell Jr. to a district judgeship in Rhode Island:

Rhode Island’s Democratic senators, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, recommended McConnell for what they said were his qualities of legal ability, intellect, temperament and integrity, as well as a solid middle-class background.

Ah, yes, I’m sure that the massive campaign contributions that the article reports—“approaching $700,000 over the past two decades”—by McConnell and his wife to Reed, Whitehouse, and an array of other Democrats weren’t a factor in Reed’s and Whitehouse’s recommendation.