It's all up to Franken now!
 

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...28specter.html

Specter says he's switching from GOP to Dems

April. 28, 2009 09:09 AM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Veteran Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania disclosed plans Tuesday to switch parties, a move intended to boost his chances of winning re-election next year that also will push Democrats within one seat of a 60-vote filibuster-resistant majority.

"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," Specter said in a statement posted on a Web site devoted to Pennsylvania politics and confirmed by his office. Several Senate officials said a formal announcement was expected later in the day or Wednesday.

President Barack Obama called Specter almost immediately after he was informed of the decision to say the Democratic Party was "thrilled to have you," according to a White House official.
Specter, 79 and in his fifth term, is one of a handful of Republican moderates remaining in Congress in a party now dominated by conservatives. Several officials said secret talks that preceded his decision reached into the White House, involving both Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden, a longtime colleague in the Senate. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell as well as Democratic leaders in Congress also were involved, added the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details.

With Specter, Democrats would have 59 Senate seats. Democrat Al Franken is ahead in a marathon recount in Minnesota, and if he ultimately wins his race against Republican Norm Coleman, he would become the party's 60th vote. That is the number needed to overcome a filibuster.

Specter faced an extraordinarily difficult re-election challenge in his home state in 2010, having first to confront a challenge from his right in the Republican primary before pivoting to a general election campaign against a Democrat in a state that has trended increasingly Democratic in recent elections.

He has publicly acknowledged in recent months that in order to win a sixth term, he would need the support of thousands of Pennsylvania Republicans who sided with Obama in last fall's presidential election.

"I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate," he said in the statement.

Asked by a reporter what he had to say to his constituents, Specter replied with a smile, "I don't have to say anything to them. They said it to me."

In Pennsylvania, the chairman of the state Republican Party, Rob Gleason, said that Specter should offer a refund to Republicans who have helped fatten his war chest, which totaled $5.8 million at the end of 2008. "He should give them the option," Gleason said.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement: "Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not. Let's be honest: Senator Specter didn't leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first."

Specter has long been one of the most durable politicians of either party in Pennsylvania. In recent years, he has battled Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system, but maintains a busy schedule that includes daily games of squash.

As one of the most senior Republicans in the Senate, Specter held powerful positions on the Judiciary and Appropriations committees. It was not clear how Democrats would calculate his seniority in assigning committee perches.

Specter has long been an independent Republican, and he proved it most recently when he became one of only three members of the GOP in Congress to vote for Obama's economic stimulus legislation.

As recently as late winter, he was asked by a reporter why he had not taken Democrats up on past offers to switch parties.

"Because I am a Republican," he said at the time.

"I welcome Sen. Specter and his moderate voice to our diverse caucus," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a statement.

A senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because no announcement has yet been made, said at 10:25 a.m. EDT Tuesday President Barack Obama was handed a note while in the Oval Office during his daily economic briefing. The note said: "Specter is announcing he is changing parties." At 10:32, Obama reached Specter by phone and told him "you have my full support" and that the Democratic Party is "thrilled to have you."

Very interesting. I predict the Franken recount will be dragged out even longer by the national Republican party now.

It's about time! I'm a Democrat, and have voted for Spcter every election because his views are mostly in line with mine.

Very interesting indeed. Spector has been left leaning for a long time, but took shelter in the comfort of the GOP. Noe that the R's are in complete disarray he finally jumps ship. I wonder if he got some financial support from the D's and a few other "assurances."
He has $5+ million to work with - the vast majority of which was from Republican donors. He has also offered to give it back if they want it.
Interesting indeed.

I think this is great news for the country. It would have been nice if Specter could have helped lead his former party away from the disaster they've become, but he'll be a welcome moderate voice inside the Democratic Party to help us avoid a similar fate.

Welcome, Senator Specter.

I voted for Specter, and this is a self-fulfilling destiny for the Republican Party, who systematically drove him out by turning hard right. This state was going to elect any Democrat rather than Specter primary candidate Pat Toomey, and it will elect Specter as a Democrat over Toomey in 2010. The hard-liners are saying "don't let the door hit you on the way out!" and so they fail to learn any hard lessons from this.

Does anybody else find this statement scary?

At least he's now properly labelled.

The Republican Party tent is getting smaller and smaller and most within the party dont seem to mind, preferring to maintain a rigid ideological test over electability.

Most recently they blew a chanced to win back a House seat in a red district with the special election in upstate NY by running the most right wing candidate, who lost to a moderate Democrat.

Who is leading this sinking ship?

Rush Limbaugh. Newt Gingrich and Pat Buchanan have both taken stabs at trying to get control of the party. But the extremists are even too right wing for them.

When is the final court decision expect?

This is hardly surprising. The GOP has been throwing a constant tantrum since 2006 - worse after 2008 - and are now attacking their own, should anyone stray from the fold in the slightest.

Steele's comments about Specter are a precise example of this.

Go Arlen!

Unfortunately that says much about the voters. Too many now vote party lines rather than see the whats and whys that make a good politician. Moderates (such as this author who is independent) cannot vote for Specter (or anyone else) in primary elections. Therefore those who are Specter's greatest supporters cannot help him.

Arlen Specter is a conservative moderate. So close to being a centrist as to be hated by the Republican party's right wing power brokers.

Those outside America have no appreciation of how many times Arlen Specter stood up against efforts to pervert the American Constitution. He has done so by making stands against members of both parties. He did this at great political risk because he put America ahead of the Republican party. So the Republican party hates him. A good Republican is expected to put the party agenda first; American principles second. In the Senate, few have done more to promote America and protect Constitutional guarantees even when it risks his political career.

The man is a thinker first, party member second. He will probably be just as ornery as a Democrat. Good is to remind both parties who they are supposed to work for.

Specter??? That's spooky. He doesn't stand a ghost of a chance, but I admire his spirit.

yoinked to HOF.

Single Bullet Theory