Nuclear Nod:

While Specter (R.-Pa.) has been scrupulously non-committal about the "nuclear option," Roll Call reported yesterday he has hired a major "nuclear" strategist for his committee staff. Dimple Gupta, formerly of the Harvard Law School Federalist Society, co-wrote with conservative Senate parliamentary rules expert Marty Gold an article for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy subtitled, "A Majoritarian Means to Overcome the Filibuster." The article focused on the precedents for breaking a filibuster set by Sen. Robert Byrd (D.-W.Va.) when he was majority leader in 1970s.