Any progressives who have felt bile rise in their throats during previous public struggles of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will likely get a kick out of this post on the conservative blog Red State, in which Eric Erickson proves quasi-eloquently that the right has as many problems with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as the left has with Reid.

But No. 4 on Erickson's list of complaints about McConnell is the most interesting: is the Republican leader really "not fighting Reid on throwing [Sen. Tom] Coburn off the Judicial [sic] Committee"?

There would be ample cause for Reid to try to punish Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who makes a habit of gumming up the Senate works to slow down what he deems excessive government spending. Coburn's quests to delay routine bills -- last year the number topped 100 -- tend to be lonely, but his efforts on the Judiciary Committee have made him a conservative darling.

So it would be a major story if, as The Hill reported last week, Reid tried to cut the number of seats on the judiciary panel in an effort to knock off Coburn. But that's not the case.

As this Congressional Research Service report documents, precedent shows that Democrats' likely 59-seat majority (once the Minnesota and Illinois seats are resolved) entitles them at least a two-seat advantage on most Senate committees. Since no one above Coburn on the judiciary committee lost a race or retired last year, he's out of luck -- unless he can convince a more senior member to give up their seat on the plum panel.

Looks like Sen. John Cornyn might have to lead the way in that hunt for any possible ties between Eric Holder and Rod Blagojevich.

I took a look at other Senate committees and found that retirements or losses would likely be enough to keep other young conservatives from losing their committee seats. Coburn's health committee seat looks safe, thanks to the departure of former Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) this year, but a lot depends on how Reid and McConnell settle on committee ratios this year.