They did not see a 3-5 seat margin discussed in the article.
I believe the margin will change from 11-10 to 12-10 or 11-9.
I hope that Senator-elect Coburn gets the vacancy on the GOP side, if one develops. Of all the freshmen, he seems to have the right temperament and ideological consistency (including pro-life commitment) for a Judiciary assignment.
I've been freeped for days because I agree with Hugh Hewitt.
1. Specter will support Bush's nominees and in so doing will provide a useful foil to moderates and the MSM. Well, Specter is supporting these nominees, so they can't be that bad. We'll get more accomplished with less controversy.
2. Frist is running for President. He must keep Specter in line. If he fails to do so, his presidential run is in prompt shambles, tatters. In fact, raising expectations on our side for Frist and Specter to produce may yield even greater results than if we have a conservative chair who is assailed by the MSM week after week.
3. Specter likes the limelight. Fine. Let him have it. I'm even willing to carve out a hero's nitch for him if he gets the job done by the 2006 midterms and we have two or more new USSC confirmations and a host of circuit court nominees confirmed.
4. Specter in the chair role will help the RATS to realize that they must throw in the towel on this counter-productive filibuster strategy. If we alienate Arlen, a bunch of GOP moderates will side with enough RATS to maintain the filibuster, and we accomplish nothing.
5. There is a sea change in the Senate due to the election results, particularly the defeat of Tom Daschle. The ramifications are huge, and tremendously benefit the GOP. Let's not inject new recriminations. We are the winners, let's act accordingly.
6. This said, we should change or enact a rule such that the filibuster of a circuit or district court nominee is prohibited... 51, not 60, is the legitimate number.