I don't really have a solid theory as to why, just a collection of opinions and unanswered questions that make me question the narrative. I think the primary objective was to pander to their base and other anti-Trumpers by simply obstructing the process. This has been their move since 11/16. They don't care about stopping Kavanaugh, they care about stopping a Trump nomination. It doesn't matter who it is. I think the Dems have spent years building an angry mob that they can now barely control. I wonder if maybe Feinstien *had* intended to sit on that letter but, after someone else leaked it, she had to get on board big time or have to explain to #metoo why she ignored it in the first place. I think all the Senators knew the weekend before that report was even released that Daines wouldn't be there for a Saturday vote...and that his absence wouldn't matter. I think Collins knew how she was going to vote a long time ago. I think she new those claims were baseless from the start and every senator knew something big (which they knew didn't exist) would be needed to change her mind. That report was a nail in the coffin for how Collins would vote. I think that secret report was a bi-partisan attempt to ease enough of the less agitated, centrist ant-trumpers before they lost complete control of their angry mob. This guy was a DC judge for over a decade. They knew this guy and they knew how he judged. So why not attack the opinions and decisions he had made? If he was a bad judge or too far right then surely they could have convinced a wider range of moderates and center-rights to join the fight to stop him. If they really wanted to they could have had this fight transcend the Trump factor so why not go for bi-partisan support against Kavanaugh and push for a centrist judge? ...Unless they were, in theory, alright with a Kavanaough Supreme Court Justice. Unless they just needed to act radical in an attempt to maintain a mob that is slipping further and further left of the DNC.