[Ophiucus]

If you don't think that orders are coming from top, then you haven't gotten out of bed lately.

If you think that mush overriding influence is coming from top, your tin foil hat is slipping.

[FirstPrinciple]

You better believe influence is coming from the top. The White House/Dick Cheney picked sides early on and it was relayed down to the state party level. I very much doubt if the state party would go against the wishes of the upper echelons in the party. Anyone who has worked in any campaign will tell you that organization is everything. The White House and the party threw their influence behind Specter a long time ago. RINOs take care of each other.