Senate confirms Hillary Clinton

By a 94-2 vote, Clinton's former colleagues made her appointment official. The holdouts? David Vitter and Jim DeMint, both conservative Republicans.

Published January 21, 2009 10:37PM (EST)

Hillary Clinton is, officially, on her way to Foggy Bottom.

The Senate just voted 94-2 to confirm her appointment as secretary of State in the Obama administration. The vote was initially expected yesterday, when six other Obama Cabinet picks were confirmed, but Texas Republican John Cornyn objected, saying he wanted more information on whether Bill Clinton's charities would pose a conflict of interest in the job. John McCain, of all people, came to Clinton's rescue this morning, telling his GOP colleagues it was time to come together and work.

That seemed to do the trick, at least with Cornyn, who dropped his objection to the vote and, in the end, voted to approve Clinton's nomination. The only two holdouts were Louisiana Republican David Vitter (most prominently in the news for a prostitution scandal) and South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint, one of the Senate's most conservative members.

Clinton -- still, technically, a member of the Senate -- didn't vote.


By Mike Madden

Mike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter here.

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