The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 3)

Santorum is already gearing up. Last week he held a high profile Senate conference on faith-based initiatives that put a spotlight on an issue in which he has taken a leadership role. That meeting got wide play in Pennsylvania.

For the Democrats' part, both NOW and EMILY'S list have let Schumer and Reid know how unhappy they were with Hafer's treatment. Both men claimed to know nothing about the strong-arm tactics, and said it was Rendell's decision and a state party matter.

p> SPECTER'S FRESH DIMPLE br> Republicans and conservatives around Washington cheered the hiring by Sen. Arlen Specter for hiring to the Judiciary Committee former Justice Department lawyer, Dimple Gupta . Gupta, a 26-year old graduate of Harvard Law School, was a leading member of its Federalist Society chapter, and earned a reputation in conservative legal circles for co-authoring an article in the Harvard Journal on Law and Public Policy (not Harvard Law Review , as has been reported elsewhere) on how Republicans could use Senate parliamentary rules to impose the so-called "nuclear option" on filibusters. /p>

Gupta, according to Specter and committee spokespeople, is going to lead the committee's judicial nomination process. But Judiciary staffers dispute Specter's portrayal. "She was hired to get the conservatives off our backs," says a Judiciary staffer. "She's bright, but she's young. She isn't going to be leading anything."

topics:
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Law, NATO