Word: republicanized
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...Republican side, Specter's departure could leave an opening for a less conservative candidate to challenge Toomey in the primary. Speculation has centered on two powerful figures - former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan, who has been running for governor, and Representative Jim Gerlach, who has signaled he might be interested in leaving the House for statewide office. Meehan issued a statement on Tuesday saying he was "disappointed" in Specter's decision to leave. "I see opportunity and hope in Pennsylvania's future and want to fight within the party to bring discipline to government spending and restraint to taxation," he wrote...
...Toomey's campaign and state Republican officials didn't return calls, but the candidate issued a harsh judgment on his website, one that gave a hint of how he might campaign if he were to win the nomination. "What Pennsylvanians must now ask themselves is whether Senator Specter is in fact devoted to any principle other than his own re-election," Toomey wrote. He implicitly accused Specter of hypocrisy, saying "Senator Specter has made numerous statements about how important it is to deny Democrats the 60th seat in the U.S. Senate and how he categorically intended to remain a Republican...
...Just two 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...
...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 to be a maverick Democrat," Ceisler said...
...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 a 312-vote lead - the Democrats will have a 60-vote Senate majority. That's the magic number it takes to beat back a Republican filibuster and, at least in theory, push through Barack Obama's big-ticket agenda items. Not since Jimmy Carter's days has a President's party had that kind of numerical leverage in the Senate. (Read about the top 10 political defections...