Arlen Specter Make it Official

He's long voted like a Democrat, and now he'll become one:

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, according to sources informed on the decision.

Specter’s decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next Senator from Minnesota. (Former Sen. Norm Coleman is appealing Franken’s victory in the state Supreme Court.)

“I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary,” said Specter in a statement. “I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election.”

“Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.”

This switch is not about his political philosophy as much as it's about the conservative challenger Pat Toomey who was mopping the floor with him in early polling. Specter was gonna lose in the primary. Now, if he doesn't get a primary challenger, he can wait until election day to get his clock cleaned.

There something else missing in Specter's statement. Remember Operation Chaos? That was the effort by Rush Limbaugh to get Republicans to switch their party affiliation so they could vote for Hillary in the primaries. Thousands of them did and Hillary won the Pennsylvania primary. Specter may be justifying his decision based on bad information.

Regardless of how he came about it, I think most Republicans will be glad to see him go.

Way back on November 5, 2004, just a couple of months after this blog started, I had an item urging the Republicans not to make Specter the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He had just threatened the newly re-elected President Bush about sending conservative judges up for confirmation. I've seen this coming for a long time.

This makes Sen. John Cornyn look pretty silly since he recently came out and said the Republican Senatorial Committee would back Specter's campaign. And, of course, he made President Bush, Sen. Rick Santorum, and the whole GOP look silly for backing him in 2004.

The overwhelming message I'm reading from most conservatives is: Good riddance. Amen. Now let's see if we can get John McCain and his wacky daughter to join him.