Specter:  "... the Republican Party has moved far to the right"

WASHINGTON – Long-time Republican Senator Arlen Specter will switch to the Democratic Party. Specter who has been a Republican since joining the Senate 28 years ago, confirmed the switch Monday, claiming it was the Republican Party that deserted him. 

Specter angered fellow Republicans when he became one of three GOP senators to support the $787 billion stimulus plan. 

On the home front, that anger was reflected in the polls. Specter is trailing Republican challenger Pat Toomey by a huge margin.   Toomey almost beat Specter in the primary five years ago.

Specter conceded he is making the switch largely to preserve his political career.  He said he did not want to trust his fate to “Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate”, whom he characterized as not being the mainstream of the party.

Specter is now expected to seek another term, as a Democrat.

The switch will give the Democrats a ‘veto-proof’ majority in the U.S. Senate, if and when apparent Minnesota Senator-elect Al Franken is sworn in.

Specter’s move also gives Pennsylvania its first all-Democrat Senate lineup since 1947.  Democrat Robert Casey is Pennsylvania’s junior senator.

“As a Pennsylvanian and a Democrat, I welcome Senator Specter to the Democratic Party”, said Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-11).  “I greatly respect the Senator for his independent voice and I hope that he will feel more at home in a political party which I believe is more accepting of the kind of thoughtful representation that he has provided for Pennsylvania for so many years.”