Senate Vicissitudes

Today is the moment of truth for Arlen Specter -- he goes before his colleagues to convince them to keep him in line for the Judiciary Committee Chairmanship. Might he consider changing parties if they sack him? It's possible.

As for Bush's nominees, the initial view was that Bush was consolidating power by appointed people already close to him. From the Sacramento Bee:

"President Bush's appointment of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to replace Colin Powell as secretary of state, and the mandate he has given Porter Goss to clean house at the Central Intelligence Agency, reflect two facets of one policy direction: the president's determination to tighten the White House's control."

But what about Margaret Spellings? As a Bush aide, she initially seemed to be part of the abovementioned pattern. But now conservatives are now saying that Spellings is too liberal to carry out their ambitious agenda of more testing, more vouchers, and lots more prayer!