Breaking News: Arlen Specter Switches Parties (Update)

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Senator Arlen Specter
Photo By Michael Ruhl

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. It’s 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 Pennsylvania’s longest serving senator, elected in 1980

Specter said that the increasing “extremism” within the Republican Party over the past few years has put both him 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 today’s 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 Obama’s stimulus package and budget.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Photo by Michael Ruhl

Commentators are already shouting down Specter’s 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 Specter’s, “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.”

“I’m 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 decided by that jury,” Specter said.

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 don’t 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 they’re 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 Specter’s 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 Specter’s 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, doesn’t 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.

Specter’s 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.

Updated 5:00pm EST