With the roar of ascending planes in the background, a line of firefighters took turns posing with Sens. Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter and a series of improbably large checks:

$116,684 for Whitehall,

$53,937 for Unity;

$51,553 for West Deer No. 1

Those are big numbers for volunteer fire companies and not so big for lawmakers who deal in budgets denominated in billions and trillions.

The cartoon checks, however, were a measure of the clout of the two men presenting them. Foreign policy and the economy may drive elections in a broad sense; but the fates of politicians are also determined by their ability to bring home the bacon.

Bacon comes in many forms, from outright grants like these to the ability to tweak the tax laws to benefit a local firm, or to insert a crucial clause that makes a reimbursement formula favor a region's hospitals.

The forum for those decisions are the committees of Congress, the legislative duchies where the laws that few people read are crafted.

A Democratic takeover of one or both chambers of Congress would not only end the careers of some Republicans, it would bring a major reduction in the voice of the survivors, a change with potentially major consequences for Pennsylvania and every other state.

If Mr. Santorum were re-elected, he would likely ascend to the number two spot in the GOP Senate caucus, while occupying a senior spot on the powerful Senate Finance Committee. Though he is not on the ballot, the Nov. 7 election will also have a powerful impact on Mr. Specter's future. A Democratic takeover of the Senate would rob him of the gavel on the Judiciary Committee and sap the power of his number two spot among the Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

"Seniority is really the name of the game in Washington,'' Mr. Specter argued last week during a stop at the Skyview Fire Hall next to the Allegheny County Airport. "I sometimes ask a rhetorical question, 'Do you know how long it takes to build up 16 years' seniority in Washington?'"

Mr. Specter contended that the key reason to re-elect his colleague Mr. Santorum was his ability to deliver projects and federal dollars to his state.

"If we lose Rick's seniority, it would be really devastating," Mr. Specter said. "He has a key spot on the Finance Committee, which touches on Medicare and Medicaid and tax policy."

Mr. Santorum has noted that was able to use his Finance Committee leverage to help ease import duties on materials vital to the Sony Corp. plant in Westmoreland County.

Democrats argue that turnover among congressional seats is inevitable, and the seniority is a valuable commodity only insofar has you agree with the policies that senior members promote.

"A Democratic victory is not going to be a loss for Pennsylvania, that's for sure," said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills.

The handicapping of possible changes in the state's key committee spots starts with the sitting Republicans. Beyond Mr. Santorum's closely watched Senate race, Republicans hold a 12-7 majority in the state's delegation, and all of the congressional seats thought to be competitive on Nov. 7 are now held by GOP members.

Five Pennsylvania Republicans appear to be in jeopardy of losing their seats. If those potential losses help tip the balance in the House, the surviving GOP incumbents will suffer the consequences.

The most-coveted committee seats in the House are on Ways and Means, with broad powers of taxes and government finances; Energy and Commerce, the panel with perhaps the widest jurisdiction in the House, dealing with issues from telecommunications to public health to interstate commerce; and Appropriations, the arbiter of government spending and the font of the congressional largesse.

Pennsylvania Republicans hold two seats on each of those committees. Rep. Phil English, R-Erie, and his neighbor Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods, each hold seats on the powerful Ways and Means panel. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, as does Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Lancaster.

Rep. John Peterson, R-State College, and Don Sherwood, R-Luzerne, hold the state's spots on Appropriations. Mr. Sherwood's spot is in severe jeopardy regardless of the overall fate of the House majority. After devastating publicity from an extramarital affair, he is probably the most vulnerable Republican in the state delegation. The other member of one of the prime panels in a tough race is Ms. Hart.

Ways and Means seat
Even if she survives, Ms. Hart could conceivably lose her spot on Ways and Means. A Democratic takeover would change the party ratios on the committees, bringing more Democratic and fewer Republican members. Ms. Hart is relatively low on the seniority list among the panel's Republicans, so she could be vulnerable. Mr. Murphy could possibly suffer a similar fate on Energy and Commerce.

"If we go from two members on the majority on Ways and Means to basically none, that's not a good thing,'' Mr. Santorum said. "That's tax, trade, Medicare, Medicaid. We're looking at a huge problem for Western Pennsylvania on Medicare [reimbursement] and Melissa's been able to work on that, so has Phil English."

The three prime committees are not the only ones wielding power, of course, and similar shuffles would take place elsewhere. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Delaware County, for example, enjoys considerable clout on defense issues due to his number two spot on the Armed Forces Committee. The Boeing-Vertol plant in his district has benefited through his rise in committee seniority as he championed projects such as the tilt-wing Osprey aircraft built there.

Like Mr. Sherwood, Mr. Weldon, dogged by an influence-peddling investigation, is in danger of losing his seat outright.

No Democratic House members appear to be in jeopardy in the state, in part because of the overall national political climate and in part because there are fewer of them. The 2002 redistricting plan, crafted by state Republicans, chopped their numbers from 10 to seven.

Mr. Doyle said he was confident that new and current members of the state Democratic House delegation would be positioned to more than compensate for any loss of Republican clout for Pennsylvania issues and projects.

Mr. Doyle is a member of Energy and Commerce. Pennsylvania has not had a Democratic seat on Ways and Means since the retirement of Rep. Bill Coyne, D-Oakland, but two state Democrats hold seats on Appropriations, Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Philadelphia, and John Murtha, D-Johnstown. Mr. Murtha, whose district is already littered with the fruits of his seniority, is the number two Democrat on the powerful panel.

"Don't forget that Jack Murtha is in a battle for the majority leader post with [Maryland Rep.] Steny Hoyer and if we have the majority leader of the House residing Pennsylvania, then I think we're doing pretty damn well," Mr. Doyle said.

Mr. Doyle noted that the House Democratic caucus apportions committee seats according to the relative membership strength of different regions of the country. Pennsylvania is in a region with Ohio and Kentucky. The Democrat predicted that Democratic gains in House races in both Pennsylvania and Ohio would boost the number of committee slots available to the state.

"[Our] region ... is going to be powerful because we're where all the growth [in seats] is," Mr. Doyle said. "If we run the slate, we could have as many as 10 new seats; that's going to make us one of the larger regions."

He predicted that new Pennsylvania Democrats would be in line for seats on Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means.

"If we win three, four, five seats in Pennsylvania, we're going to want to position those members of good committees, so that they can help their districts and so that their committee slots can help them in their efforts to be re-elected," Mr. Doyle said.

"We've watched the Republicans in that respect and they've been very good in positioning their members on good committees."