OK, so long-time "moderate" Republican Senator Arlen Specter switched parties. Although he will make all kinds of ideological noises about why he made the move, there's, however, only one reason why he switched: he almost certainly couldn't have gotten the Republican nomination and running as an independent would have been very difficult - mostly because of the dollars it would have cost and the organization he would have had to build from scratch. But I still see it as a mixed bag.
On the positive side it's another blow to the Right-wing Republican (redundant?) ego, especially the day after the news that only 21% of voters are willing to admit they are Republicans. It will move the Democrats closer to the magic 60 votes in the Senate to cut-off filibusters. Specter won't have to compromise his principles to fit in to a reactionary party. He's smart and articulate, characteristics which either party could use at this moment when they're both brain-drained.
But on the negative side, he will probably move the Democratic caucus to the right (not necessarily that extreme a move). What do we need with another "Blue Dog" Democrat? As a Republican, Specter was always a burr under the party saddle, now he's no longer there to irritate them.
All this said, it will make things more interesting and it's distracted the cable news shows from curtain-to-curtain swine flu.
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