I’d like to offer a suggestion to the conservatives mounting a challenge to Arlen Specter’s chairmanship of the Senate judiciary committee. They need to do a better job explaining what exactly the powers of a committee chair are, and exactly how a committee chair can frustrate the appointment process in a way that any other indivdual Senator cannot.
I’m not sure that the general public understands that committee chairmen are more than just the time-keepers during hearings. Some detail about how legislative committee chairmen can use scheduling and other powers to dominate the legislative process would help explain the urgency of their campaign.