Not just Specter, of course — Collins and Snowe would be duly denounced, too — but he’s the only one facing reelection next year so he’s the one who’d suffer most. Take your pick of possible motives for doing this. It gives Pat Toomey a golden talking point and pressures Specter to vote no on the next trillion-dollar bill; it plays well with the base, which could be important to fundraising after all of Steele’s gaffes; and it asserts some authority over Steele himself in potentially forcing him to back Toomey and other primary challengers.

The group of agitators, headed by Indiana national committeeman Jim Bopp, is pushing to pass a resolution calling out Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) for backing the stimulus plan that passed in February.

Conservatives also want to pass a resolution denouncing earmarks and one citing Democrats’ “march to socialism,” according to RNC sources who participated in a Wednesday conference call where the group made their demands…

It takes signatures from committee members or state party chairmen from 16 states to call a special meeting. Only once in recent memory have RNC members called a meeting on their own, when a group opposed to then-Chairman Robert “Mike” Duncan held a forum for candidates for chairman in early January of this year…

“Is trying to govern through resolutions really the appropriate use of time and money for the RNC?” asked one committee member with close ties to Chairman Michael Steele.

If you’re Steele, why not go for it? It would raise the RNC’s profile, and a more powerful RNC means a more powerful RNC chairman. With any luck, it’d put enough fear into the centrist three that they’d think twice the next time they thought of crossing the aisle.