Breaking News: Arlen Specter Switches Parties
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - Updated 5:00pm EST
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, a
long-time Republican, is defecting to the
Democratic Party. This switch potentially
gives Democrats in the Senate more
leverage in passing their legislation and
overriding Republican filibusters, if Al
Franken is found to win the Senate seat
in Minnesota. Itʼs also a crippling blow to
the Republican Party, which has been
struggling to have its voice heard since
the beginning of the 111th Congress.
Specter, 79, is Pennsylvaniaʼs longest
serving senator, elected in 1980
Specter said that the increa si n g
“extremism” within the Republican Party
Senator Arlen Specter over the past few years has put both him
Photo By Michael Ruhl and his constituents in a difficult position.
“I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans,”
Specter said. “I think it is very important to have a two party system, and a moderate
wing of the two party system…The extremes in both parties are taking over.”
He highlighted the partisanship which was amplified in Congress by the stimulus vote,
saying, “it has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes
our differences irreconcilable.”
Specter said that his defecting would not make him the “automatic sixtieth vote” for the
Democrats, and that he would not be a “party-line voter” who is used to break filibusters.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that he anticipates continued
disagreements with Specter, but both of them hope to work together towards common
causes. One area that Specter already said he would be opposed to most Democrats
on is in reigning in executive power.

Although Specter will run as a Democrat in the 2010 election, he has not decided
whether or not he will caucus with the Democrats immediately.
He informed Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of his decision
last night. He then released a written statement at noon today, sending shock waves
through the halls of Congress. Specter said that he made the decision gradually over
the past few months, and that numerous Democrats encouraged him to defect,
including Reid, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Vice President Joe Biden. Reid
said that he has been trying to convince other Republicans to switch party as well.
Reid said that both he and President Obama would personally campaign for Specter in
his 2010 election after todayʼs events. When President Obama found out, he reportedly
telephoned Specter and welcomed him to the party. Specter was one of the few
Republicans to vote for President Obamaʼs stimulus package and budget.
Commentators are already shouting down
Specterʼs move as one of political strategy,
as the Senator said that he would find a
strong challenger in a Republican primary
to be a big threat to his career. Senator
John Cornyn (R-Texas) called it “nothing
more, nothing less, then political self-
preservation.” He continued by saying
Specterʼs, “Own pollster told him that he
could not win the Republican primary in
Pennsylvania, so his only options were to
leave the Senate or join the Democratic
Party.”
“Iʼm not prepared to have my 29-year
record in the United States Senate decided
by the Pennsylvania Republican primary
electorate, not prepared to have that record Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
decided by that jury,” Specter said. Photo by Michael Ruhl
Former Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Toomey was seen as a strong candidate
who could possibly have defeated Specter in the Republican primary. Additionally,
Toomey is widely acknowledged as the more conservative candidate, and Specter said
he did not want his career ended in a primary by his own party. He said that the
Republicans donʼt want moderates anymore, which is why he was being targeted.
“There ought to be a rebellion, an uprising,” Specter exclaimed.
Incumbents in Congress have a significant advantage in winning reelection, but Specter
was concerned after seeing recent polls. He said that his full constituency does not turn
out to vote because the Republican party breeds extremism. Specter said that there are
plenty of his constituents who agree with his positions, “but theyʼre non-participants.”

McConnell called this a “threat to the country,” because it would allow the majority to
“have whatever it wants, without restraint, without a check or a balance.”
Reid said that with Specterʼs seniority within Congress, it would be as if he were elected
as a Democrat in 1980. Reid was careful to say, however, that committee assignments
would only be changed voluntarily, and that Specterʼs presence on the Democratic side
would not bump any other Senators off a particular committee.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a longtime friend of Specter, doesnʼt believe that this is
going to affect judicial confirmations or any potential Supreme Court vacancies that
might surface in the near future.
Specter is “just as independent as ever,” Leahy said.
Specterʼs said that in his time in the Senate, he has exercised “independent judgment to
do what [he] thought was best for Pennsylvania and the nation,” and that it was not his
party that defined him.
Link: http://talkradionews.com/2009/04/breaking-news-arlen-specter-switches-parties/