Chief Justice O'Connor?

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."

Describing what he called credible speculation, Mr. Specter said that before she retired, "there was some speculation in the intervening week that Justice O'Connor might be waiting to see what Chief Justice Rehnquist did, perhaps with the chance to become chief justice herself."

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.

As a Pennsylvanian and a registered independent, if Bush must choose a (Republican) replacement for O'Connor, why not choose Specter?