Sometimes you have to step back and just marvel at the lengths one will go to retain power. Dianne Feinstein, seeking a fifth term in the Senate at age 85, was rebuffed by the California Democratic Party in February, denying her their endorsement and subsequently backing upstart state senator Kevin de Leon, a lightning rod for progressive causes, for the nomination. Though Feinstein prevailed in the primary, the tepid support of California’s party bosses had to come as an affront to someone of her stature as November approaches.

A masterful tactician, Feinstein decided to use her position as the leading Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to commandeer the Supreme Court nomination process of Brett Kavanaugh to promote her standing among Democrats. No doubt her planned machinations and dubious timing in the suspect disclosure of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s account of sexual misconduct perpetrated upon her by the nominee some 35 years ago were orchestrated in consultation with leading Democrats. To not see the behind-the-scenes hand of Chuck Schumer is to not look.

And in her quest for party accolades and relevance with an ever-left leaning electorate, both Kavanaugh and Ford are simply collateral damage along the way to the brass ring within her grasp: obstructing a Trump appointee to the Supreme Court. A single Congressperson able to accomplish that feat would be forever enshrined Resistance Hall of Fame. The obstacles for the Democrats to permanently deny Trump a second Court appointment are daunting. Currently, the GOP controls both Chambers and the Executive branch. The looming midterm elections pose a real threat to the Republicans’ keeping a House majority, and their hold on the Senate is tenuous.

But, if the Democrats could leverage the flourishing and combustible #MeToo movement to envelop this nominee, the domino effect could have immeasurable political gains on multiple fronts: a pro-life nominee would be disgraced and withdrawn; a replacement nominee could be forestalled until after the midterm election; a win in the House is a vote for Articles of Impeachment (and the argument would thus arise that no President could nominate someone to the High Court while under Impeachment, a nebulous idea, but one that would no doubt have to be litigated regardless of the merits); even with a whisper-thin Senate majority being retained by the GOP, defections could be counted on from enough wobbly Republicans to delay a nomination until a Senate trial on impeachment is adjudicated. By that time, the howling will be that even a acquitted Trump is too far along in his term to be allowed to nominate until after the 2020 election.

Played properly, the Kavanaugh affair could have damaging blowback for the Republicans in the midterms. So far, the Republicans have been maneuvered into calling upon the President to authorize an FBI investigation of the nominee he put forward and they unanimously endorsed in Committee. Think about that and the trembling it suggests among Senate Republicans as you watch a distraught Jeff Flake vote “Yes, but” after consultation with trusted Democrat colleague Chris Coons.

This delaying tactic will earn only a more open-ended and inconclusive outcome, subject to additional posturing and inquiry by the Democrats. Worst case for Democrats: they endure a post-investigation party-line vote in the Senate of a ravaged nominee that can be exploited in the midterms. Thus far, the Republicans have not shown the collective vertebrae to hold fast, and one can envision Kavanaugh going down to narrow defeat. Even if the Republicans were to rally behind their nominee and their President in the wake of a stalemated investigation, and ram through the damaged goods that is Brett Kavanaugh, the stink will stick, that could cost the Republicans both Houses in November, handing the Democrats an otherwise unattainable win who would then mine the endless well of the #MeToo movement for additional complainants and investigations until Kavanaugh is impeached.

The Hail Mary pass, borne the ruination of a good man and the exploitation of an aggrieved woman, and slung contemptuously by Dianne Feinstein, is in the air. We will soon see if it changes the score.