By The Prowler on 12.4.06 @ 12:08AM
One state the GOP doesn't intend to lose in 2008. Also: Bye Bayh.
HATCH ACTS
Look for Sen. Pat Roberts to gain an
Appropriations Committee slot in the coming Congress as he shifts
off the Senate Intelligence Committee. Sources in Republican
leadership say that Sen. Orrin Hatch will move
over from Judiciary to Intelligence in place of Roberts.
Roberts is expected to face a stiff re-election battle in
Kansas, a state where the Democrat Party has been making some
inroads, and where the national party apparently is emboldened to
neutralize them. "An Appropriations seat helps Pat on the homefront
with constituents," says the Senate leadership aide.
More surprising is Hatch's move from Judiciary, a committee he
once chaired. But with the loss of Roberts on Intelligence,
leadership felt it needed someone of Hatch's standing to push back
against Democrat troublemaking on a committee that has targeted a
number of Bush Administration activities for hearings in the coming
months.
BAYH NOW
Some Democrats on Capitol Hill aren't surprised by Sen.
Evan Bayh's decision to open an exploratory
committee to seek the Democrat presidential nomination. In fact
some are hopeful he'll succeed.
"Only if it means he resigns from the Senate to make the run,"
says a Democrat leadership aide, explaining, "Senator Bayh is not
one of our more popular members of the caucus."
Bayh is known to be aloof and less of a team player than some of
his colleagues.
topics:
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