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Specter jumps to the Democratic Party

He may be the smartest one of all of them. Since the Republicans and Dems are pretty much the same thing nowadays he might as well go with the hot hand. I never liked him before but now I think he's pretty savvy!
 
Methinks Specter is going to find out that voters have had enough of him and cynically switching party to bypass the republican primary where he would get torched isn't going to change that. Specter was a democrat before he jumped onto Reagan's coattails and has always been among the one or two most liberal republicans. He's not a "moderate" republican, which is a dopey media invention and the media have yet to discover one moderate democrat. No doubt the republicans would prefer to have his vote, but he'll be flushed in 2 years and I dare say a lot will be joining him in looking for a new job.
 
Sword_Of_Truth said:
The Republicans can easily destroy Specter in Pennsylvania if they have the right issue to hit him with.

All they need to do is paint Specter and Obama as two peas in a pod, something that Specter will provide plenty of ammo for.
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2008 Presidential Election, Pennsylvania -- Obama 54.65%, McCain 44.23%

I don't think that being identified with Obama is such a serious problem for Specter. The sun doesn't rise and set on coal in PA.
 
hgc said:
2008 Presidential Election, Pennsylvania -- Obama 54.65%, McCain 44.23%

I don't think that being identified with Obama is such a serious problem for Specter. The sun doesn't rise and set on coal in PA.
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That was only three weeks into the recession, job losses hadn't even started yet.
 
Whiplash said:
That seems to have been the case with the Dem's treatment of Leiberman as well. Would you agree?
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A couple points on that --

Democrats don't need no stinking moderates representing liberal places like Connecticut. Moderate/conservative Dem senators representing places like Nebraska and Arkansas get no hassle.

Lieberman had the strong backing of almost the entire national Dem establishment during his primary, and from much of that establishment even after he ran as an Indy. It was the Connecticut Dem voters who chose, in Lamont, someone closer to their political bent.
 
linusrichard said:
They don't have Google where he lives.
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Google Schmoogle. It's a standard right-wing talk radio thing. See, if the were moderates then they'd be Republican!

It all makes sense when you check your brain at the door.
 
Whiplash said:
That seems to have been the case with the Dem's treatment of Leiberman as well. Would you agree?
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Not at all. Democrats have tolerated right-leaning politicians in their ranks for years; Zell Miller, for example, was never run out of office. Hell, Lieberman himself was the 2000 candidate for VP.

Lieberman crossed the line when he publicly backed McCain for President. I don't think it's reasonable to expect your Party to support you, when you won't support the Party--and that's true whether you're a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Communist.
 
Cleon said:
Lieberman crossed the line when he publicly backed McCain for President. I don't think it's reasonable to expect your Party to support you, when you won't support the Party--and that's true whether you're a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Communist.
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I don't think thats right. I thought Lieberman lost his Democratic nomination in Connecticut over the Iraq War. McCain wasn't until later.
 
Sword_Of_Truth said:
The Republicans can easily destroy Specter in Pennsylvania if they have the right issue to hit him with.

All they need to do is paint Specter and Obama as two peas in a pod, something that Specter will provide plenty of ammo for.
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Yes, that's right, and with the President's popularity today at nearly 70% nationally, this would be a great strategy for the PA GOP. This only works if Obama is crashing and burning in 18 months...a long way off, but not impossible. However, if Obama's national popularity remains above 50%, it is hard to see the PA GOP leveraging the new Obama/Specter link to defeat Sepcter the Democrat. The state has been growing more Democratic in each of the last 4 elections.

To illustrate Republican challenge, this from Dan Blaz in today's Wash. Post:

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll shows the depth of the party's problems. Just 21 percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Republicans. That's the lowest since the fall of 1983, when just 19 percent identified themselves as Republicans. Party identification does fluctuate with events. But as a snapshot indicator, the latest figures highlight the impact of Obama's opening months on the Republican Party. From a high-water mark of 35 percent in the fall of 2003, Republicans have slid steadily to their present state of affairs. It's just not as cool to be a Republican as it once was.

The Republicans have many demographic challenges as they plot their comeback. Obama has attracted strong support from young voters and Latinos -- two keys to the future for both parties and once part of the GOP's calculation for sustaining themselves in power. Suburban voters have moved toward the Democrats. Specter can see that problem acutely in the suburbs around his home in Philadelphia home. Obama is also holding a solid advantage among independents, the proxy measure for the center or swing portion of the electorate.
 
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Cleon said:
You know what, you're right. My mistake.
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Well, Lieberman did almost loose his committee seat over backing McCain, which is probably what you thinking of.

Going back to Whiplash's point, Lieberman lost the support of Connecticut Democrats because they didn't feel he represented their interests. The rest of the state disagreed. And, of course, he did support the other party during the last Presidential campaign.

Despite that, the Democrats let him keep his committee seat. Pretty gracious, that. Wouldn't you say, Whiplash?
 
What's funny is that at Specter's press conference he basically said that he was doing this because he wouldn't be able to win as a Republican.

I'm not sure if I should be mad at the blatant display of politicking or if I should feel pleased by his honesty.
 
tomwaits said:
What's funny is that at Specter's press conference he basically said that he was doing this because he wouldn't be able to win as a Republican.

I'm not sure if I should be mad at the blatant display of politicking or if I should feel pleased by his honesty.
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Heh, no kidding. Jon Stewart had some fun with that last night.
 
tyr_13 said:
Ummm, what?
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He's referring to the well-established fact that the media generally only discovers moderates among the GOP. For example, the New York Times returns about 1,600 results when searched for "moderate Democrat"; when you search for "moderate Republican" there are over 10,000 results. So at the New York Time, sightings of moderate Republicans outnumber sightings of moderate Democrats by at least 6-1.

Why is that? Because certain Republicans require the "good doggie" label of "moderate" to set them apart from their more partisan fellows in the GOP.
 
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