HUNH?

Did someone at NPR actually suggest that Bush might pick Arlen Specter to replace Gonzales?

A guy whose replacement in the Senate would, I assume, be chosen by a Democratic governor, in a state where a Democrat could easily win the seat outright in '08?

A guy who's despised as a RINO (Republican in name only) by Bush's base?

Good Lord, the people in the Beltway will never stop looking for signs that the nice, bipartisan Bush they were sure would take office in January 2001 will someday, someday show up, will they?

*****

However, I'm not sure he'll pick somebody controversial, as Steve Benen and Matthew Yglesias seem to think. He doesn't nevessarily want to fight -- he wants to win. He may decide he'd win by picking a fight -- or he may decide that he'd win by picking a respected, easily confirmed figure who won't get in his way. Think Robert Gates.

So I think Orrin Hatch is a possibility, or John Cornyn, or even some old Poppy Bush hand -- as long as it's someone who won't make any trouble whatsoever for him or show the slightest bit of gumption.

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I don't know about Chertoff, though I notice that CNN has downgraded its headline from "Chertoff likely to get nod" to "Chertoff may get nod."