At least one Senator is floating the possibility, and surprisingly, it's not a flame-throwing liberal. David D. Kirkpatrick has the story for The New York Times.

Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, suggested on Sunday that President Bush could name Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is retiring from the Supreme Court, to the position of chief justice if it opens up.

"I think it would be very tempting if the president said to Justice O'Connor, 'You could help the country now,' " Mr. Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and a pivotal player in any confirmation hearings, said in an interview on the CBS program "Face the Nation." "She has received so much adulation that a confirmation proceeding would be more like a coronation, and she might be willing to stay on for a year or so."

Although Mr. Specter's seeming endorsement of the idea was highly speculative - Justice O'Connor, 75, has announced her retirement, while Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80, has not stepped down - it was the clearest of his several recent signals that he plans to steer his own course as he oversees hearings on a replacement for Justice O'Connor, independent of the president and of his party's conservative base.

Could this be a sign that Specter does not care about appeasing his party's base? This is not the only signal he sent out today, apparently.

Mr. Specter also said he intended to push hard for a bill, expected to come up in the Senate this week, to authorize federal financing for research using stem cells derived from human embryos left over at fertilization clinics. Many social conservatives object to the research, saying it destroys potential human life, but supporters argue that the research could yield new treatments for many life-threatening diseases.

Specter has long been the bane of the GOP's most conservative supporters -- especially in years immediately following his reelection.

In 1987, following his 13-point win over Democrat Bob Edgar, Specter defected from the Republican cohort in opposing Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork. In 1991, just a year before his 1992 reelection bid, Specter shepharded Clarence Thomas' nomination through the Senate.

Given that Specter just won another six years in the Senate (and might not run again on account of the cancer he is currently battling), the right is clearly concerned that Specter will act more like he did in 1987 than he did in 1991. And his support of Justice O'Connor will do little to appease the Republican base.