A few notes from the recent break at the Alito hearings:

Republicans believe that Sen. Kennedy, in his desire to spark a confrontation and bring the hearings to life, made a tactical blunder by confronting Chairman Arlen Specter and demanding a subpoena for the Rusher papers. But the real key to Kennedy’s embarrassment, aides say, is Rusher himself. Republicans were not inclined to agree to a subpoena for the papers, which could have allowed Democrats a period of time to charge that Alito and GOP were hiding something. But Rusher’s quick agreement to make the papers available — they are being copied and examined now, apparently — called Kennedy’s bluff and will likely put an end to the whole thing. “It’s over,” says one Republican aide.

Meanwhile, Alito’s opponents are increasingly placing their hopes in what they believe is Alito’s growing “credibility problem,” and they apparently believe they can still reap some additional benefit from continuing to push the CAP and the Vanguard issues. “The credibility gap that existed before the hearing has become a credibility chasm,” People for the American Way head Ralph Neas said outside the hearing room. “Judge Alito has a profound problem both on substance and credibility grounds,” said Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. And yet another anti-Alito activist said credibility is now a key issue for Alito. The question now, of course, is whether the activists can keep Democratic senators on the attack if it appears that the CAP/Vanguard strategy is going nowhere. Already, there is a sense of rapidly diminishing energy in the hearing room.

Finally, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said that “Sen. Kennedy is the gift that keeps on giving, from my point of view.”