Did you hear that? What was that sound coming out of Washington? It was the butts of the GOP slamming shut!
US Republican Senator Arlen Specter is to switch sides and become a Democrat.
The move would give the Democrats 59 votes in the senate, just one short of the 60 needed to overturn Republican attempts to block legislation.
The Democrats are expected to pick up their 60th vote when the result of the still-disputed Minnesota senate race is decided by the courts.
Mr Specter, a moderate, said that since he joined the Republicans in 1980 the party had “moved far to the right”.
“I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans,” he said in a statement announcing the switch.
Specter, 79, had held secret talks with Mr Obama, along with other senior Democrats including Vice-President Joe Biden, ahead of his decision to leave the Republican Party, according to officials.
Mr Specter was facing a tough challenge from conservative Pat Toomey, in a primary election to decide who would run as the Republican candidate for Mr Specter’s Pennsylvania senate seat in 2010.
Polls suggested that Mr Specter’s decision to vote for the president’s economic stimulus package earlier this year had been unpopular with Republican activists in the state.
Specter’s decision is an opportunistic one. But now the Obama gang has what they have been missing, a 60 vote Senate, this should make the passing of his ambitious programs an almost given.
welcome to the party, Sen. Specter.
I would hesitate to say that the plans are almost a given. You still have Bayh and his gang. Bayh is looking for re-election which will make him not as willing to rubber stamp everything.
As always it is political not ideological….Specter wants to be re-elected and he went back to his roots when he was a Dem. Deep down he will remain a conservative no matter which party he embraces.