Specter of a Filibuster-proof Majority
- Posted by: Andrew Price
- on April 28, 2009 at 2:34 pm
The Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter is switching to the Democratic party today. He got lots of heat from Pennsylvania Republicans for voting for the stimulus package—he was one of only three Republicans to do so—and his prospects for reelection as a Republican were pretty bad. Specter’s move gives the Democrats 59 seats in the house…just short of the filibuster-breaking 60.
This puts a lot of pressure on Minnesota, where Al Franken and Norm Coleman are locked in the longest unresolved Senate contest in history. Coleman keeps asking for recounts, losing them, and challenging the results. If Franken wins, which looks likely (although who knows when), the Democrats would have a filibuster-proof majority.
How much that matters depends, of course, on how Specter and others actually vote. He was an iconoclast as a Republican and will probably remain one as a Democrat.
You can read Specter’s statement in full here. It’s pretty short.
DISCUSSION: 3 Comments
Verrry Nice!!
Um, that stinks, to be blunt. You don’t vote for people anticipating that they’ll switch parties sometime in their term. Just imagine if Obama decided to switch to the Republican party next year. That’s not what anyone voted for, so by parallel, why should we be celebrating Specter’s switch?
His state should be allowed to remove him from the post…kind of a political “bait-n-switch if truth be told. I’d be pissed if I was a Pennsylvanian! As is, I’m simply disgusted that such crap is allowed to occur as it changes the political landscape greatly and pulls the rug out from the Republicans that thought they were voting in a Republican candidate. Specter is a spineless pussy.