DREIER SPECULATION
Responding to my posts below, a reader who works on Capitol Hill writes:
I don't have any inside information just speculation. Dreier will be term limited out of his Rules Cmte Chairmanship at the end of this Congress. He wouldn't be the first Chairman to retire or run for another office rather than to return to being a mere Congressman.
That doesn't mean he'll run against Barbara Boxer, of course, but it's a pretty definitive answer to the "Why give up the Rules Committee chairmanship?" question.
Update: The pollsters haven't caught up with the Dreier speculation. A new Field poll shows Boxer running slightly ahead of four possible Republican candidates. Dreier, who is better known than at least three of the four, wasn't on the list.