Sen. Arlen Specter Wants to Keep His Job

Arlen Specter (RINO-PA) has been frantically maneuvering in whatever way he could to position himself for re-election in 2010. He has a conservative opponent in the primary (Pat Toomey) who almost beat him last time, and his moves to side with Democrats on key issues such as the Porkulus Bill has left him vulnerable.

I recently read that he was trying to convince GOP lawmakers in PA to have an open primary where independents could vote for him as well as registered Republicans. That effort apparently failed.

It was also said that organized labor was offering to re-register union members in large numbers to vote for him in the GOP primary if he agreed to support the so-called "card check" legislation that would have stripped employees of their rights to vote for a union with a secret ballot.

Well, that effort by the unions has apparently failed...for now:

Did the campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act (a.k.a. "card check") end before it truly began?

It looks like it after Sen. Arlen Specter (R) signaled today that he would vote against cloture on the measure, denying Democrats 60 votes to break a GOP filibuster on the legislation -- even if Al Franken gives Democrats a 59th vote. Specter was the only Republican to vote for cloture on the legislation in 2007.

"The problems of the recession make this a particularly bad time to enact Employees Free Choice legislation. Employers understandably complain that adding a burden would result in further job losses," Specter said on the Senate floor. "If efforts are unsuccessful to give Labor sufficient bargaining power through amendments to the [National Labor Relations Act], then I would be willing to reconsider Employees' Free Choice legislation when the economy returns to normalcy."

Politics, of course, hovered over Specter's decision, especially since he's up for re-election in 2010. Organized labor floated the idea that it would back the Republican in a general election if he supported card check. But supporting the legislation would also potentially hurt him in a GOP primary.

Specter left open the possibility of voting for card check once he's safely re-elected in 2010, and that should be enough for GOP voters in PA to work extra hard to retire him when they have the chance.