WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 - The Senate Judiciary Committee, divided along party lines over questions of torture and accountability, voted 10 to 8 on Wednesday in favor of Alberto R. Gonzales's nomination as the nation's 80th attorney general.

The vote was much closer than expected, as all eight Democrats on the panel voted against Mr. Gonzales. Several Democrats who had indicated their support for Mr. Gonzales when President Bush first nominated him in November called Mr. Gonzales on Tuesday to say they would oppose him.

Democrats accused Mr. Gonzales of being evasive and "arrogant" in explaining the Bush administration's stance on the treatment of prisoners in the fight against terrorism. But his Republican defenders lauded him as a man of integrity and keen intellect whose Horatio Alger-like story - rising from poverty as the son of migrant workers in Texas - made him suited to become the nation's first Hispanic attorney general.

Mr. Gonzales, a longtime aide to Mr. Bush who now serves as White House counsel, is likely to win confirmation in the Republican-controlled Senate next week.

No Republicans have indicated any wavering in their support, and a Democratic senator who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it was very unlikely that the Democrats would seek to stall the vote on Mr. Gonzales through a filibuster. Democrats are eager to save their political ammunition for the expected fight over future Supreme Court vacancies.

But the Judiciary Committee's narrow endorsement, a day after many Democrats attacked Condoleezza Rice on the Senate floor over her nomination for secretary of state, signaled the minority party's willingness to do battle with the White House over another high-profile nomination, and Republicans acknowledged their disappointment over the strong show of opposition.

"I would like to have avoided a party-line vote," said Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who leads the committee. He said the vote could undercut Mr. Gonzales's strength as attorney general and attributed the close vote in part to "a very, very heavy aura of politics in the air" in Washington.

One by one, the eight Democrats at the committee meeting attacked Mr. Gonzales's record at the White House, saying he had devised policies that led to prisoner abuses in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Mr. Gonzales was too much of a "blind loyalist" for Mr. Bush to be an independent attorney general.

Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, surprised some colleagues by voting against the nomination. Mr. Feingold, the only Democrat on the committee in 2001 to vote in support of John Ashcroft's nomination as attorney general, had traditionally given the president broad deference to pick cabinet secretaries. But like other Democrats, Mr. Feingold said he found Mr. Gonzales's testimony at his confirmation hearing earlier this month "deeply disappointing" and said his actions at the White House on torture policies called into question "his commitment to the rule of law."

"Time after time," Mr. Feingold said, "Judge Gonzales has been a key participant in developing secret legal theories to justify policies that, as they have become public, have tarnished our nation's international reputation."

Democrats continued to press for White House notes or documents that might shed light on Mr. Gonzales's role in developing a Justice Department opinion in 2002 - since disavowed - that gave a narrow definition of torture. A search by the White House last week produced no such records, officials said on Wednesday.

Accusing their Democratic colleagues of unfairly tarring Mr. Gonzales for policies often outside his control, Republicans said he had given full answers to some 450 questions posed by the committee - the bulk involving torture.

"He's a man of integrity, decency, honor," Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, said. "He's a person who I think answered the questions as well as he could before the committee, and showed extreme intelligence as he did so. You may not agree with Judge Gonzales, but, my gosh, this man is an honorable, decent person who deserves to be confirmed."

Mr. Bush was asked on Wednesday at a news conference about Mr. Gonzales's assertion in written testimony this month that the Central Intelligence Agency was not bound by a 2002 White House directive on the humane treatment of prisoners.

Mr. Bush did not address the issue directly but said that "Al Gonzales reflects our policy, and that is we don't sanction torture." The president added, "He will be a great attorney general, and I call upon the Senate to confirm him."

Although split over the confirmation of Mr. Gonzales, the Senate easily approved the confirmation of two other new cabinet members on Wednesday - former Gov. Michael O. Leavitt of Utah as secretary of health and human services and Jim Nicholson as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Both were cleared on voice votes.

Mr. Leavitt had broad support in the Senate. But Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, had threatened to try to delay a vote unless Mr. Dorgan was promised a vote on a plan to allow the importation of cheaper prescription drugs. Mr. Dorgan dropped his resistance after he and Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, received a pledge from the Senate leadership that a hearing on their measure would be held within 90 days.

Mr. Nicholson, a former ambassador and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, sailed through both the veterans committee and the Senate, putting him in charge of the agency at a time when the extent of benefits and health care available to former members of the military has become a political issue.

Carl Hulse contributed reporting for this article.