WASHINGTON - The winners are claiming their postelection trophies quickly in Congress. Emboldened conservatives are working to box in an abortion-rights Republican who will chair a key committee chairmanship, while a grateful House GOP decides that not even an indictment should automatically strip Majority Leader Tom DeLay of his power.
Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), a moderate in a party of conservatives, "is entitled to be chairman" of the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites), with jurisdiction over President Bush (news - web sites)'s judicial nominees, Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record) of Utah said last week, joining other members of the panel in a choreographed display of party unity.
Seniority, which counts for much in Congress, had said so all along. Besides, as the four-term Pennsylvanian kept pointing out, he voted for all of Bush's first-term appointments to the bench and has never applied an abortion-related litmus test in a Senate career that spans 24 years.
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