After more than two years of huffing and puffing, the Senate this week confirmed Julie Myers to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Next to the bloody judicial fights, hers might have been the most difficult executive nomination of President Bush's two terms — and now, it's a battle he's won.

Myers had been serving as a recess appointment after her nomination was blocked in the Senate two years ago. That appointment would have expired next month without this week's Senate action.

To many senators, Myers didn't appear to have the experience to run a law enforcement agency and her nomination appeared to be tied more to her connections.

Her experience consisted of running a 170-employee section of the Commerce Department, a stint as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York, and service and time in the Justice Department's criminal division.

But after being blocked and getting the recess appointment, she put her temporary time to good use, running an efficient though embattled agency for nearly two years and establishing a track record to be judged by.

Then, just as her nomination was coming to a second showdown this year, she stumbled. She was involved in judging a Halloween costume contest that some ICE employees said was racist. Her nomination ground to a halt.

Still, the Senate is nothing if not fickle. After letting her twist in the wind for some weeks, senators apparently decided they had punished her enough and let her through. She was confirmed without any objection Wednesday night, just before the Senate finished business for the year.

— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times