Specter jumps to the Democratic Party

[headscratcher4]

Breaking news.....

All part of the plot to keep Franken out of the Senate (with Franken representing the elusive 60th vote, Colman more apt to appeal from here till the cows come home... )

From the AP:

Specter says he's switching from GOP to Dems
By DAVID ESPO Associated Press Writer
Apr 28th, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- Veteran Republican Sen. Arlen Specter disclosed plans Tuesday to switch parties, a move intended to boost his chances of winning re-election next year that will also push Democrats closer to 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 could come later in the day or Wednesday.

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 the White House as well as leaders in both parties had been involved in discussions leading to his move.

With Specter, Democrats would have 59 Senate seats. 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.

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

"I don't have to say anything to them. They said it to me," Specter said, when asked in a Capitol corridor about abandoning the GOP.

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."

Specter had publicly acknowledged that to win in 2010, he would need thousands of Pennsylvania voters who switched from Republican to Democrat last year to vote for Obama to flip back to the GOP to cast ballots for him.

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[marksman]

Now that is shocking. Specter is a poster child for the moderate wing of the GOP. I guess he didn't want to be the next Lincoln Chafee.

 

[Oliver]

LOL, great news on the filibuster-proof senate front.

http://us.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/28/specter.party.switch/index.html

 

[dudalb]

The motto of the GOP seems to be "We Don't Need No Stinking Moderates".
The irony is that if the moderate Republicans do began jumping to the Dems, the effect will be to neutralize the more militant elements in the Democratic party.
Which could cause some of the Left Wing of the Democrats to break off and form a splinter party...interesting times we live in.

 

[marksman]

Well, A Democratic splintering is a possibility, though I think it as likely as a Republican dissolution (which is, not very). First, that would require Obama alienating a faction of the party that is likely to ally with disaffected GOP moderates. I think Obama so far has been working (with some success) to prevent giving people like Pelosi too much power. But if the left-wing keeps demanding things like torture prosecutions of US Attorneys, that could change. After all,there were about two-dozen Democratic Representatives who did not vote for Obama's budget. If that number grows, you'd have a de facto moderate voting bloc that could switch to the GOP.

Really, the future fate of the GOP is going to be driven by Obama's weaknesses more than any inherent strength of the GOP. But such is the nature of being the minority party in a nation of two-party politics

 

[Brainster]

Now that is shocking. Specter is a poster child for the moderate wing of the GOP. I guess he didn't want to be the next Lincoln Chafee.

Chafee was challenged by a more conservative opponent in 2006 in the GOP primary, but prevailed. He lost in the general election.

I'm torn here. I supported Chafee in the 2006 election because I realized that Rhode Island is a very liberal state and the idea that we could get a more conservative Republican from there seems absurd. However, that does not apply in Pennsylvania.

BTW, expect the Democrats to be just as frustrated with Specter as the GOP has been; he's already announced he's not an automatic vote for cloture and he's not going to vote for "card-check".

 

[A'isha]

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.

Apparently Mikuru Asahina writes for the AP now.

 

[boloboffin]

BTW, expect the Democrats to be just as frustrated with Specter as the GOP has been; he's already announced he's not an automatic vote for cloture and he's not going to vote for "card-check".

Is there a faster way to lock up the Democratic vote in Pennsylvania than to be for card-check again?

 

[Tricky]

Chafee was challenged by a more conservative opponent in 2006 in the GOP primary, but prevailed. He lost in the general election.

I'm torn here. I supported Chafee in the 2006 election because I realized that Rhode Island is a very liberal state and the idea that we could get a more conservative Republican from there seems absurd. However, that does not apply in Pennsylvania.

BTW, expect the Democrats to be just as frustrated with Specter as the GOP has been; he's already announced he's not an automatic vote for cloture and he's not going to vote for "card-check".

True. I doubt this will change Specter's voting habits much at all. He was already way too moderate for the Republican rank-and-file, being one of the three senators that voted for Obama's stimulus package.

He did this to be more electable. It is exactly the same reason that Phil Gramm did it (Dem to Rep) a few years back. Well, maybe he hoped it would get him juicier chairmanships, but mostly just because Pennsylvania has gone Democratic. He even said as much.

Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats.

Frankly, I'm not that happy about his reasons. The guy is 79 years old and has had cancer three times. Know when to hang up the spurs, Arlen.

 

[Upchurch]

Wow. I don't know how I feel about this.

On the one hand, it is plan to see that the GOP is migrating to the extreme end of the spectrum. I can understand wanting to get off the crazy train rather than trying to change its course.

On the other hand, this smells like pure electioneering with no interest beyond getting past the next election cycle.

Or, maybe all of the above.

 

[Brainster]

Is there a faster way to lock up the Democratic vote in Pennsylvania than to be for card-check again?

It might leave an opportunity for a Democrat to challenge Specter, but he's already announced he's not changing his mind:

Unlike Senator Jeffords’ switch which changed party control, I will not be an automatic 60th vote for cloture. For example, my position on Employees Free Choice (Card Check) will not change.

 

[dudalb]

Well, A Democratic splintering is a possibility, though I think it as likely as a Republican dissolution (which is, not very). First, that would require Obama alienating a faction of the party that is likely to ally with disaffected GOP moderates. I think Obama so far has been working (with some success) to prevent giving people like Pelosi too much power. But if the left-wing keeps demanding things like torture prosecutions of US Attorneys, that could change. After all,there were about two-dozen Democratic Representatives who did not vote for Obama's budget. If that number grows, you'd have a de facto moderate voting bloc that could switch to the GOP.

Really, the future fate of the GOP is going to be driven by Obama's weaknesses more than any inherent strength of the GOP. But such is the nature of being the minority party in a nation of two-party politics

Actually the splintering I was thinking of was that A flocking of GOP moderates to the Dems would increase the power of The Yellow dogs, strenthen the power of the moderates in the party to the point where the more militant members decide to leave and join the Greens or the Naderite Movement.

 

[Gangularis]

Really, the future fate of the GOP is going to be driven by Obama's weaknesses more than any inherent strength of the GOP.

Isn't ripping on the short comings of others how the GOP has won for the past 30 years? I wasn't aware that they did more than that.

 

[MattusMaximus]

The GOP implosion continues...

GOP leaders: It's not our fault

Senate Republican leaders are pushing back hard against the notion that their party is to blame for Sen. Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democrats. ...

But reading a bit further along the article, other GOP Senators take the GOP leadership to task...

... Two GOP senators said earlier in the day Tuesday that Specte's decision underscored the hostility Republican centrists feel in a party that's increasingly conservative. Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe said that the GOP hasn't been offering "warm encouraging words" about moderates. South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham suggested that the Republican Party risked becoming little more than the Club for Growth. "I want to be a member of a vibrant national Republican Party that can attract people from all corners of the country — and we can govern the country from a center-right perspective," he said. ...

I cannot wait to see the foaming & frothing that this will cause among the Rush Limbaugh / Glenn Beck crowd.

And, for the record, I view this as extremely good for the Democrats - not just because it gives them the 60th seat in the Senate (after Franken is seated), but also because it will help to moderate the Dems a bit more.

 

[boloboffin]

It might leave an opportunity for a Democrat to challenge Specter, but he's already announced he's not changing his mind:

Oh, all the Democrats have to do is stick some random window dressing on the bill, and Specter can claim to have forced a compromise and jump right back on board. He's a ho, but he's our ho now.

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

It might leave an opportunity for a Democrat to challenge Specter, but he's already announced he's not changing his mind:

Yes he is, he's just not changing his mind today.

Arlen Spector 42 days ago:

I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role, a more important role, to play there. The United States very desperately needs a two-party system. That's the basis of politics in America. I'm afraid we are becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party with so little representation of the northeast or in the middle atlantic

March 17th Specter feared for the foundations of American democracy. April 28thth Specter is totally comfortable with America becoming a one party state.

May Specter or June Specter will probably be a pro card-check zealot.

 

[balrog666]

All politics is local. Specter already knows he will never win another Republican primary in Pennsylvania.

He may not win re-election playing as a Democrat either.

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

And, for the record, I view this as extremely good for the Democrats - not just because it gives them the 60th seat in the Senate (after Franken is seated), but also because it will help to moderate the Dems a bit more.

No it won't. The Dems didn't have to change at all to bring this about. Thus there is no motivation to change afterwards.

If anything, Specter will have to move farther to the left himself in order to please his new voter base.

 

[Ysidro]

March 17th Specter feared for the foundations of American democracy. April 28thth Specter is totally comfortable with America becoming a one party state.

So there can't be a second party (Republican or other) without Arlen Specter? I didn't realize he was so important on his own! To weild that sort of power! Amazing!

In other news, I'm not entirely surprised. OK, I didn't actually expect him to do it but I did expect the GOP to push him out for not being reactionary enough.

 

[shawmutt]

Ugh, not good. Taking away the only semblance of balance in government is sure to lead to some fun legislation.