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- Arlen Specter's defection from the GOP caucus has created some uncertainty in the seniority system of the Senate's committee seating arrangements. Contrary to early reports that Harry Reid would simply allow Specter's 28 years as a Republican to roll over as the newest member of the Democratic caucus, The Hill reports that that the Democratic caucus will now decide Specter's fate on this matter.
- Speaking of musical chairs, Specter's switch has elevated Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, which will soon be the site of inevitable political drama as President Obama prepares to nominate his first Supreme Court justice. Sessions hasn't had exactly the most sterling record on race relations during his tenure as a Southern politician, and that promises to figure prominently if Sessions decides to use his new position to block Obama's judicial appointments.
- I've lost track of how many Republican rebranding efforts there are out there these days, but the latest, the National Council for a New America, held its first outside-the-beltway (technically, not) meeting on Saturday, featuring Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Eric Cantor. Marc Ambinder and Jay Newton-Small have some reporting from the event but my favorite line has to be Romney's assertion that "[Republicans] are the party of the revolutionaries, they [Democrats] are the party of the monarchists" and that the Republicans should "once again lead the American Revolution." See also, "The Dismal Future of the GOP."
- You know things are looking bleak for your 2010 gubernatorial run when you're down 32 points against the guy you replaced in the wake of a prostitution sting. I hardly expect a similar political turnaround for John Edwards, who ideally ought to not show his face in public again.
- An earlier report that Democratic New Hampshire State Party Chairman Ray Buckley told NH Dems that the DNC would reconsider the Granite State's early primary calendar advantage if they failed to legalize gay marriage have since been contested as part of a New Hampshire GOP smear campaign.
- Remainders: Obama takes aim at offshore tax havens; former attorneys general John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales challenge recent Nixonian defenses of the Bush administration; recession be damned, Bush supporters raise $100 million for W.'s presidential library; Obama meets with Krugman and Stiglitz; and RedState's Erick Erickson tells us (twice!) how he really feels about retiring SCOTUS Justice David Souter.
--Mori Dinauer
