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Google CEO Eric Schmidt last May, introducing Google TV at the company’s annual developer conference in San Francisco. (ROBERT GALBRAITH – REUTERS) Even before he’s out as Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt is reportedly on the short list to be President Obama’s next Commerce Secretary. Buzz has been building for the past week that Schmidt is being seriously considered as a candidate for the administration post once he leaves the company in April, after a decade at Google’s helm. Google co-founder Larry Page will step in as CEO this spring.

Schmidt recently secured a nod from former Reagan administration Commerce Department counsel Clyde Prestowitz. Prestowitz, whose endorsement could signal bipartisan support, said in a Foreign Policy piece that he would “wholeheartedly urge President Obama to move ahead with this appointment.”

Schmidt is known not only for his business acumen but also for his colorful and controversial comments, particularly when it comes to explaining Google’s privacy policies.

The rumors about Schmidt’s possible nomination are apparently substantial enough to make Schmidt’s critics nervous as well.

Consumer Watchdog, well-known for its opposition of Google — and Schmidt in particular — issued a release Thursday in opposition to a possible appointment. The group also sent a letter to Obama asking him not to nominate Schmidt for the position. “Putting Eric Schmidt in charge of policing online privacy is like appointing Bernie Madoff to direct the Securities Exchange Commission,” the release said.

Others who have been mentioned as possibilities for the nomination include U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler and FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.

Current Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is Obama’s nominee to be the next ambassador to China.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that Google CEO Eric Schmidt was “splitting” with the company. Schmidt will step down as CEO of Google but will remain the company’s executive chairman.

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Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a veteran of several Supreme Court nomination battles and a wily Senate tactician for three decades, bid farewell to the Senate on Tuesday with a stinging critique of the state of partisan politics and the conservative demand for ideological purity in Republican politicians.

An interactive timeline of Senator Arlen Specter’s political career.

Mr. Specter, who lost his state’s Democratic primary after switching from the Republican side of the aisle in 2009, did not mince words as he assailed unnamed colleagues (read Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina) for violating Senate tradition and politically undermining members of their own party.

“Senators have gone into other states to campaign against incumbents of the other party,” Mr. Specter said. “Senators have even opposed their own party colleagues in primary challenges.

“That conduct was beyond contemplation in the Senate I joined 30 years ago,” said Mr. Specter in a speech that the onetime prosecutor billed not as a farewell, but as a closing argument. “Collegiality can obviously not be maintained when negotiating with someone simultaneously out to defeat you, especially within your own party.”

Mr. Specter, who changed parties after he determined that his support for President Obama’s economic stimulus made him unelectable in a Republican primary, said that under the current political environment, a senator could be severely penalized for one vote cast out of thousands, making compromise impossible.

“Repeatedly, senior Republican senators have recently abandoned long-held positions out of fear of losing their seats over a single vote or because of party discipline,” Mr. Specter said.

He took some solace from the ability of Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, to survive defeat by a Tea Party-backed candidate in the primary by mounting what appears to have been a successful write-in re-election campaign.

“The spectacular re-election of Senator Lisa Murkowski on a write-in vote in the Alaskan general election and the defeat of other Tea Party candidates in 2010 in general elections may show the way to counter right-wing extremists,” he said. “By bouncing back and winning, Senator Murkowski demonstrated that a moderate-centrist can win by informing and arousing the general electorate. Her victory proves that America still wants to be and can be governed by the center.”

Mr. Specter, noting that he had taken part in 14 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, advocated some changes in Senate rules to ease the procedural gridlock that has taken over the institution in recent years. He urged Congress to take the initiative and force the Supreme Court to televise its proceedings. And as a cancer survivor who has pushed relentlessly for added research spending, he encouraged the Senate to be generous to the National Institutes of Health.

“A closing speech has an inevitable aspect of nostalgia,” Mr. Specter told his scattered colleagues listening on the floor. “An extraordinary experience has come to an end. But my dominant feeling is pride in the great privilege it has been to be a part of this unique body with colleagues who are such outstanding public servants.”

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