Originally Posted by slawecki

whenever a new and important senator appears on the scene(mccain wanted to fly to phoenix). to avoid the embarrassment of the new person just taking one slot, a group of 4 or 6 are created and go to both parties. Reid/McCain, and Oregon/Washington were 4 of the last 6 as I recall. i don't remember where the other two went.

in the past, slots from dead airlines are reallocated. the decision making of reallocation seems to be very political to me.