Leahy said they often disagree, but they also work hard to find common ground, sometimes piquing other conservatives.

Hatch has been a vigorous and sometimes overly zealous advocate, "but sometimes even the nth degree hasn't been good enough for ideologues on the hard right," Leahy said.

Absent the power vested in a committee chairmanship, Hatch will now have to draw on those bipartisan relationships built over the years to push through legislation.

Hatch calls the chairmanship emotionally draining and insists he will enjoy being a regular member of the committee. He said he will have more time to focus on specific issues and to become more involved with the other committees he is assigned to.

He will bide his time, he says, until becoming chairman of the Finance Committee in a few years. It is another powerful committee that will put him back in the spotlight and back in the position of wielding power and privilege.

"It is not about power and privilege," he said. "I am not a senator for Republicans but for all the people of this country. And Utah is the centerpiece."

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E-mail: spang@desnews.com