Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania rides the Capitol subway on his way to a press conference to announce his decision to switch parties – from Republican to Democrat – on Tuesday.
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)Photos (1 of 1)
Specter switches parties to win reelection
As the Republican Party shifted to the right, his chances of winning a 2010 primary were 'bleak,' he says.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer/ April 29, 2009 edition
Washington
The prospects for Sen. Arlen Specter as a Republican were grim.
But as a Democrat – solidly backed by President Obama and a Pennsylvania icon, Gov. Edward Rendell – he’s on track for a sixth term in the US Senate.
That’s the simple calculus, readily admitted, behind Senator Specter’s decision to break with the Republican Party and caucus with the Democrats.
Public polls showed that Specter had the support of only 30 percent of likely GOP voters in the 2010 primary. At least 180,000 party moderates – his core supporters – switched parties in 2008 to vote for Mr. Obama.
In a press briefing Tuesday, Specter described his prospects for reelection as a Republican as “bleak.” “I am not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate,” he said.
A maverick Republican
During his years in the Senate, Specter had plenty of opportunity to rile GOP voters and colleagues with his votes in favor of abortion rights, embryonic stem cell research, and social spending. He also angered conservatives with his role in the 1987 defeat of Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court. More recently, he blasted “executive branch excesses” during the Bush years in an April 16 essay in The New York Review of Books.
The essay ends with this note: “I doubt that the Democratic majority, which was so eager to decry expansions of executive authority under President Bush, will still be as interested in the problem with a Democratic president in office. I will continue the fight whatever happens.”
But he went too far for GOP conservatives with his Feb. 13 vote for Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package.
“The stimulus vote just energized conservatives in the state against him,” says pollster G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.
“That picture of Specter with Obama at the White House was played over and over in our state. Republican activists looked at him and said: ‘He’s not one of us,’” Professor Madonna added.
Specter’s move marks the second GOP defection that Senate majority leader Harry Reid has helped engineer.
As deputy Democratic leader in 2001, Senator Reid gave up his own chairmanship of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to help leverage the defection of then-GOP Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont. That shift gave Democrats control of the Senate.
Talks with Specter had been going on for years, Reid told reporters Tuesday. “I had a long dialogue with Senator Specter about his place in the evolving Republican Party,” he said.
The 60th vote?
Specter’s shift takes Democrats within one vote of the 60-vote threshold for cutting off a filibuster, likely giving Democrats a working majority on key procedural votes for the first time in the 111th Congress. This could prove immensely important in ensuring that high-profile elements of Obama’s agenda – such as healthcare reform – come to a vote.
The deal that Reid offered Specter was a guarantee that his seniority as a Republican would carry over to his ranking as a Democrat. That means that Specter is positioned to unseat Sen. Tom Harkin (D) as chair of the powerful appropriations subcommittee that oversees labor, health, and education – as early as the next Congress.
“Senator Specter knows that no one will be dumped off the full committee or a subcommittee. It’s a voluntary process,” Reid said. “In a year and a half, it’s a new game.
“This is not a time to gloat or to give high fives,” he added. “I learned early on that every vote counts.”
In an age of highly polarized politics, centrists often face questions about their interest in switching parties. Sen. Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska, long viewed by Republicans as a prospect to switch to their side of the aisle, says that he’s “very happy” where he is.
“My party has not left me, but this is a town where everything is possible, so never say never,” he said Tuesday.
Republicans say the Specter defection puts more pressure on Democrats who ran as moderates to vote that way.
“I think there’ll be enormous pressure … on red-state Democrats who ran as moderates to actually vote as moderates. To the extent that they give a left-leaning agenda a blank check, they will be voting differently from the way they ran,” says Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
“We’ll see if we can recruit somebody else,” quipped Sen. Robert Bennett (R) of Utah after Specter’s announcement.
Switching senators
Since 1890, 20 senators have switched parties. At the turn of the last century, the issues most often behind partisan rebranding were the agrarian politics and the demonetization of silver. The defection of Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina to the Republicans in 1964 marked the start of a regional realignment over civil rights that bolstered conservative GOP ranks.
Specter describes his own exit, and the depletion of the ranks of GOP moderates, as a consequence of that realignment.
“As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right, I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party,” he said.
“When the stimulus package came up for a vote, I felt that it was indispensable to vote aye in order to avoid the possibility of a 1929-type depression,” he added.
Despite differences, GOP leaders often rallied to support Specter in past tight elections. Before the 2006 primary, President Bush flew with him to Philadelphia on Air Force One and praised Specter as an “ally.”
Sen. Thad Cochran (R) of Mississippi campaigned with Specter beginning with this first race. “I asked him at the caucus lunch: Does this mean I don’t have to go to Erie [Pa.] anymore?”
Comments
2. jane | 04.29.09
As I understand it, he is openly admitting this is to get votes? There used to be some shame attached to doing that. Is honor too antiquated for todays politicians? Having said that, as a republican, I feel no loss. I have honestly thought all these years that he was a democrat.
3. Valerie | 04.29.09
I need to point out that the Republicans posted an (more conservative)opponent to Senator Specter, and this within the last few months. That’s hardly support.
Those rights (other than support of Bork) like abortion rights that Sen. Specter supported were also supported by an icon of the Republican Party - Ronald Reagan. It’s frequently pointed out that President Reagan could not be elected today because of those policies.
The party I grew up has drifted disturbingly right, and become more religicized (as opposed to politicized, and disturbingly fascist.
For those who don’t know, fascism is defined as an ‘authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascism is a corporatist economic ideology that advocates the creation of a single-party state. They believe that only the strong can survive. Fascist governments forbid and suppress criticism and opposition to the government. Fascism blames capitalist liberal democracies for creating class conflict and in turn blames communists for exploiting class conflict.
Sound familiar?
Oh, they were also known as Nazis.
4. JB | 04.29.09
The first job of any politican or bureaucracy is to stay in power. Doing the job for which the person was elected or the bureaucracy was created comes second.
We need to take a lesson from Cincinnatus; we need term limits that force people to step down and return to the private sector. A career of politics breeds nothing but corruption.
5. Bill | 04.29.09
The responses printed so far explain the problem that Republicans have. They compartmentalize these types of occurrences and then focus on ad honimen attacks on the actor instead of taking an introspective look at the root of the problem. No matter your party, Sen. Specter has been one of the most influential and effective Senators in the past 20 years. He has the respect of the vast majority of general election voters in Pennsylvania. He also has amassed a staff that is second to none o the Hill, and is the most loyal in the congress. So if he doesn’t always vote or think the way the hard core social conservatives do, then he must be a heretic, right?!? The party, after losing the White House, House, and Senate, has now found a way to lose their own moderate members.
6. Billy | 04.29.09
When my son doesn’t get the response from me that he wanted, he runs to mommy to see if he can sway her his way. No difference here.
7. Chris B. | 04.29.09
Valerie - “Those rights (other than support of Bork) like abortion rights that Sen. Specter supported were also supported by an icon of the Republican Party - Ronald Reagan. It’s frequently pointed out that President Reagan could not be elected today because of those policies.”
Not quite sure what you mean about Ronnie Valerie. He was just about as opposite to Specter re: the abortion issue as you could be.
http://www.nationalreview.com/document/reagan200406101030.asp
Bill - ” So if he doesn’t always vote or think the way the hard core social conservatives do, then he must be a heretic, right?!? The party, after losing the White House, House, and Senate, has now found a way to lose their own moderate members.”
Bill, calling Specter a moderate is like calling Obama a conservative. He was one of the most far left leaning Senators on either side of the aisle.
My take on Specter’s switch is “It’s about time”. His vote (and lack of vote) record has been Democrat for years. At least he’s now willing to wear the coat that’s been hanging in his closet all these many years.
8. Terese | 04.29.09
Specter does not want to leave “his” political future up to the Republican primary voters of Pennsylvania. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t it the basis of our constitutional system to have the voters select our Senators, and to have the Senators serve the people? The voters are the ones selecting their future representation. This is another example of Senators viewing their seats as “theirs.”
9. Herman King | 04.29.09
I guess Specter was taking a cue from Joe Lieberman, who proved you can thumb your nose at your own party and survive. Specter should resign his office, since he was elected on false pretenses. And return campaign donations. Of course, that’s not going to happen.
10. Surdas | 04.29.09
It doesn’t really make sense to say that he’s sacrificing principle to win votes. He’s not actually changing his positions. If a candidate would win the general election, but can’t win the primary, then he’s in the wrong party; it’s that simple. Whether they should switch parties or run as an independent depends on the person and the situtation. It’s pretty similar to what happened to Joe Lieberman. The only difference is that he contested the primary, then ran as an independent once he lost. It’s an unpleasant consequence of the current system, which favors more extreme candidates who can win in the primary (depending on party and location). Ironic, considering that the public prefers more moderate candidates. It would make more sense to have multiple candidates in the general election (with runoffs or whatever), so that the preferred candidate of the population as a whole gets in. But just because a system doesn’t make sense doesn’t mean it’s going to change, unfortunately…
11. James | 04.29.09
Senator Specter was feeling heat from constituents who were upset about his support for the megabank bailout. He felt this could hurt his chances at reelection as a Bush republic who supported this mega bailout; his incumbency was under threat from Pat Toomey, a real conservative who was planning use this fact to back his run.
12. Thomas | 04.29.09
Not surprising another moderate bolts from the neo-con religiously intolerant Republican party. Anyone wanna place bets on the Minuteman/McCain race? The neo-fascist Minuteman is probably getting a great deal of consideration from the Republicans.
I liked the Texas Governor’s idea of secession…all the Republicans can relocate there. You guys can build a great big fence, wall, what have you. We’ll still be the United States of America - ya’ll can be the United Counties of Guns, Jesus, and Pastyness.
Have fun!
13. dallas mike | 04.29.09
The GOP is no longer a political party, it’s an ideological cult. Congratulations to Mr Specter for freeing himself from failings of the GOP so that he can continue to serve the voters on an issue by issue basis.
14. Bill Blask | 04.29.09
Valerie, you have voiced the thoughts I’ve been pushing away for months, if not years regarding the drift of the Republican party toward being “religicized.” I saw echoes of other authoritarian governments including the Third Reich, but couldn’t or wouldn’t imagine the essentials in place in these United States.
Given post-election comments by prominent Republicans disegaging themselves from Bush years policies and practices, the underlying extremism of our own government during the past eight years has come into frightening focus. We were embracing the world view of our own extremist enemies.
Spector’s honesty shines through. The “with me or against me” mentality of his detractors reinforces my conclusion that the Republican far Right is bankrupt.
15. Jerry | 04.29.09
Clearly, Sen. Specter’s decision was based on trying to win the next election, not on how to best serve his constituents or his nation. He always claims to be an independent thinker in his votes; if that were true, he should have withdrawn from both parties and declared himself an Independent. Instead, this just shows that he’s just an opportunistic career politician.
16. liz vv 009 | 04.29.09
How selfish - it is definitely time for term limits - it would help all Americans and eliminate some of the pesky lobbyists.
17. Sonya Wilt | 04.29.09
Specter’s decision to change parties will be harshly criticied because he has been completely honest about his reasons. Honesty these days is a rare quality in elected officials today as well as heads of large banks, mortgage brokers, and money lenders. It appears that when someone in political office is brave enough to give a truthful answer for a decision, that gives people a chance to harshly criticize that individual. I, however, can empathize with Senator Spector. I was a registered Republican in the state of Pennsylvania for 64 years. Several times during those years, although I voted Republican with conviction for state officials I voted with conviction for many Democratic candidates on the national level. Finally,when Bush was elected by the Supreme Court and then by a small margin in the Electoral College, I changed my registration and felt that I was tinally being true to my strongest beliefs. The Republican Party with its extreme views on so many issues, taking stands that make one think that it has a direct link to the Supreme Being has been more than I can stomach. I too believe in a loving God who has kept the right to make the final decision on controversial issues and who has not given anyone the final word on these issues at this time. Sen. Spector has acted in synchrony with his beliefs and for that I congratulate him.
18. Vicki | 04.29.09
Senator Spector is welcome in the Democratic Party. As long as he is fair and honest he will be a very successful Democrat. Republicans have become a very rigid party of mean spirited hypocritical people who are very self-centered. It is President Obama and Democrats who will solve the terrible problems that Bush and republicans were not interested at all in solving. All they did for the last eight years was make the giant problems by spending wildly, starting an unwise war, helping the rich and working for greedy corporate interests.
19. Richard Kanter | 04.29.09
If this country had had term limits in 1932 we’d all be speaking German.
20. Tim Gesell | 04.29.09
I consider myself a center right Republican - and I share the opinion that often Sen. Specter seemed out of sync with the Republican party. That being said, it seems to me that Sen. Specter was really an independent, and independents often run on a party platform - likely the one they think they have the best shot of winning on. He will be on the PA ballot for all PA voters. PA Republicans should put someone on the ballot who they believe can represent the people of PA, and who can win in 2010. They should then persuade the public that their candidates views better represent the best direction for PA, and for our country.
21. Billy | 04.30.09
Chris- I agree with everything you stated. My point was, had the republicans given him the %’s he needed to get re-elected he would have stayed. He didn’t get the numbers he needed so he went to mommy (democrats). As stated he should have been there the whole time. I haven’t checked but I’m sure there is some Pork heading in his direction.
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1. Vernon | 04.29.09
Soecter has once again confirmed that the useless, worthless, self serving in Congress will do anything to keep their seat. He as most has been in Washington too long and need to be sent home for good.