Word: pennsylvania
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...weeks ago, Specter was at a fundraiser in Pittsburgh bemoaning his increasingly isolated status in the Republican caucus on Capitol Hill. "He was commenting, There are only three of us left, only three Republican moderates left," said Clifford Levine, a Democrat who coordinated President Obama's campaign in western Pennsylvania and who also happens to be an active Specter supporter. "They're all retired, forced out, and the Republican Party was in effect cannibalizing itself...
...Philadelphia-based strategist Larry Ceisler, a Democrat who has long supported Specter, said he had expected to see him make a bid as an independent, even though that is technically difficult under Pennsylvania law, and was taken aback by his complete switch of parties. That switch, he said, appears to be the loudest statement of disapproval Specter can make about the Republicans and not necessarily an endorsement of the Democrats. "I don't expect Arlen Specter to be any different as a Democrat than he was as a Republican ... He was a maverick Republican. He's going...
Maybe the Pennsylvania Senator knew he was bound to wind up on the other side of the aisle eventually. Democrats - including Vice President Joe Biden, with whom he had shared many a ride on Amtrak when they were both commuting Senators - had been wooing him for years. Specter, 79, had been a Democrat until 1965. But when his latest turnabout finally happened, it caught the entire capital by surprise and altered everyone's calculation of what is now possible. Assuming that the interminable Minnesota recount battle finally ends with Al Franken being awarded the Senate seat - he holds...
Specter's latest move - which he acknowledges came after seeing a private poll that showed he would be doomed in next year's GOP primary in Pennsylvania - appears to make him a much safer bet for re-election. The fact that he no longer has to worry about a challenge from the right changes the political equation on some issues. It means, for instance, that Republicans may be unable to filibuster Obama's judicial nominees. And Specter might be willing to reconsider his opposition to the controversial Employee Free Choice Act; his resistance to the measure, which would make...
...McConnell warns, "There won't automatically be an ability to restrain the excess that is typically associated with big majorities and single-party rule." Obstructionism will not work anymore - which could mean it's time for Republicans to look for a governing agenda of their own. Read about why Pennsylvania Democrats are reserved on Specter...