In an e-mail to POLITICO, Limbaugh said any attempt to compare him with Beck in terms of Washington influence rests on a “flawed premise.”

“I do not, and never have, measured my success in ways you describe, such as ‘impact’ in Washington,” Limbaugh said. “I am a broadcaster and judge my success by those standards.”…

“Glenn’s emergence reminds me of Rush’s emergence in the early ’90s,” said conservative radio host Mike Gallagher. “People have asked me, ‘Who’s the next Rush,’ because Rush is the gold standard.”

The answer, says Gallagher, “seems to be Glenn.”…

Radio host Mark Levin, whose book “Liberty & Tyranny” just surpassed 1 million sales this week, laughed off the suggestion that Beck may be eclipsing Limbaugh as the voice of the right.

“Are you kidding?” Levin said in an e-mail. “Comparing Rush Limbaugh to Glenn Beck is like comparing George Washington to George Jefferson. Beck can be very entertaining and even informative, but he is neither the face nor the voice of the conservative movement. He is one of many.”