I hadn’t seen till now that Hugh Hewitt has another post on the Specter stuff this morning. Jim Geraghty has some answers to questions he poses. The one question I find most surprising is the one about Santorum. It seems real obvious to me that Senator Santorum will have a better shot at reelection if Arlen Specter isn’t Judiciary Chair. Fairly or not, many Toomey supporting-types will blame Santorum for any Specter wrongdoing. Especially if Supreme Court nominees are less-than-ideal or Specter blocks a nominee or otherwise causes trouble for the president.
Listen, Santorum has a hard fight for reelection however one looks at it. But NARAL et al. will not soften on him. But it’s hopeless if the right jumps ship on him. Seems to me if there’s a troublemaker Chairman Specter chairing the judiciary committee, and a few ugly incidents by then, Santorum’s going to have a much harder time. Anybody but Specter for chairman won’t be a panacea for Santorum, but it will help.