Arlen Specter to Switch Parties

News Bits on the Quick Switch:

Senator Arlen Specter announced today that he will officially be a Democrat from now on, and will run as a Democrat for re-election in 2010. The possibility of a party switch for Arlen Specter has been floating around for over a month now. The switch was announced today as polling made it increasingly clear that he would lose a GOP primary against Pat Toomy, a much more conservative Republican. Polling information on the Democratic side, on the other hand, shows him with a 71% approval rating.

President Obama spoke with Specter this morning at 10:30, telling Specter that the Democrats are “thrilled to have” him in the party. The President also pledged Specter his full support. Said Specter to the President, “I'm a loyal Democrat. I support your agenda.”

Specter apparently made the decision unilaterally, without any incentive being provided by Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was only told of the decision yesterday, after the decision was already made. Vice President Joe Biden may have been involved in bringing Specter into the Democratic party, instead of remaining an independent a la Joe Lieberman. Tom Harkin of Iowa also seems to have been involved.

Republican leaders received little or no warning that Specter was planning a switch. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called an emergency meeting in his office at noon today, and barred other Senator’s staff from entering. Senators John Cornyn, Jon Kyle, John Thune, Lisa Murkowski, and Judd Gregg were all in attendance, and were all ignorant of the Specter developments as they entered McConnell’s office.

Senator John McCain, who embraced Joe Lieberman when he left the Democratic Party in 2006 to run as an independent, said of Specter’s switch, “I regret his decision.”

It has been a popularly observed trend that the constant rancor emanating from the conservative wing of the Republican Party would lead to an isolation, and eventually schism, between these conservatives and the GOP moderates. Specter’s switch is just the physical embodiment of the hemorrhaging that the GOP has suffered over the last three years, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. Said Senator Snowe, “We are headed towards the smallest political tent in history.”

GOP Chairman Michael Steel said that the switch was “not based on principles of any kind.” I am personally wondering what the Republican leadership really thinks is happening here. This is not an isolated instance of one person bucking the party. The GOP is facing fully fledged revolt from its moderate voters. I wonder if John Cornyn or Mitch McConnell will have the strength to stand up in front of Republican voters and call them unprincipled if they have ever voted for anyone other than a Republican.

So what does this do to the “Card Check” legislation which had to be put on hold? Specter had announced his plans to vote against it, but only after he began getting serious threats from Republicans for a primary challenge. Now that he doesn’t have to worry about that Primary challenge, what are the odds he votes against the legislation that at one time he co-sponsored?

Republicans will step up their resistance in the Minnesota Senate campaign recount drawn out appeals process in order to keep Al Franken from being seated. If the Minnesota Supreme Court fails to issue a ruling until July, then the Supreme Court would not likely hear arguments on that appeal until September at the earliest, meaning a final decision could not be handed down until November. This is no longer a matter of keeping Democrats from getting close to the filibuster prove majority, it is about keeping them from attaining it period.

This is going to be the dominating political story for the rest of the week, and I’m sure the White House couldn’t be any more pleased. The GOP is looking as beleaguered as it ever has. The GOP leadership is being reduced to a stuttering group of ideologues who have neither the power nor the capacity to execute basic political plans. In short, they are getting steamrolled by Obama, Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, and there is nothing they can do about it.

Last week, I said that Specter was vulnerable in his race for re-election. I’m not sure anything has changed. Neither of the Democrats who had already announced their intention to run for the Senate have since announced that they will be dropping out of the race now that Specter is a Democrat. Either Toomy or Murphy would still be strong Republican opponents in the general election for Specter to handle. And Specter’s switch just put a bulls eye the size of Pittsburg on Specter’s back for John Cornyn and the NRSC to shoot at. And you better believe that Cornyn will be gunning for Specter after Cornyn went out on a political limb in pledging his support to Specter for re-election a month ago.