According to today's New York Times, Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter says the vote on Judge Samuel Alito will be determined in part by "what happened to Senator Daschle." This is another example of how Thune's victory has made a difference:
Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, declared his support for Judge Alito on Friday and said he expected a party-line vote of the committee's 10 Republicans and 8 Democrats. But after the committee votes, Mr. Specter predicted, the politics of the final vote will be messier.
"They will get out that big map with red and blue, and where President Reagan did well, and who is up for election, and what happened to Senator Daschle," Mr. Specter said, referring to Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the former Democratic majority leader who led fights against Republican judicial nominees and was defeated in 2004 by a conservative Republican who made that an issue.
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