Word: switches
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Republican Party, we haven't certainly heard warm, encouraging words about how they view moderates: either you are with us or against us." - Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of three Republicans, including Specter, to support Obama's economic-stimulus package, expressing sympathy and support for Specter's switch (New York Times, April...
...being touted as probable candidates, though the leading contender was probably Representative Joe Sestak. Democrats say it seems unlikely now that any of the unannounced candidates will jump in; not only was Specter reportedly promised the full support of the national Democratic Party as part of his deal to switch sides - and the President himself has said he would campaign on his behalf - but also Specter enjoys a close relationship with Governor Ed Rendell, the state's most powerful Democrat, who many observers believe played a key role in persuading Specter to make the switch...
...Still, while refusing to speculate on whether he or anyone else would challenge Specter in the Democratic primary, Sestak sounded a curiously cautious note in welcoming him, saying voters need to understand why the longtime Republican chose to switch at this particular moment. "If he were not running for re-election, would he have done this change? In short, is it worth any cost to hold on to one's job? Those questions need to be assessed by the citizenry," he told TIME. (See pictures of Obama's first 100 days in office...
...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...
...Pollster Terry Madonna of Franklin & Marshall College said that Specter essentially had no choice. Democrats far outstripped Republicans in the run-up to the 2008 election, with a 10-to-1 advantage in new registrations and a 3-to-1 advantage in party switches, a change that drew mostly from the moderate suburban voters who had been Specter's political base. That leakage had slowed considerably since the election, but there was still a steady drift toward Democrats statewide. "It was a question of political survival," Madonna said. "Our last poll, he does better with Democrats than Republicans; he made...