Arlen Specter now a Democrat UPDATE: Specter Trying to Keep Seat

Update 1:58pm…updates at the bottom

Wasn’t he basically already.

In any event, multiple news sources are reporting that Specter will announce the switch at some point today or in the near future. Again, it’s not much of a loss for the republican party, after all The American Conservative Union gave him a 44 rating last year for conservative voting (that’s out of 100). His lifetime rating is a 44.47, so he was never a solid conservative voter.

I guess the repercussions of this will depend on how loyal Specter is to the Dems. If he continues to vote how he wants to vote and doesn’t try and tote his new party’s line then not much will change. I think it’s fair to say Specter isn’t one to bow down to party elites, evidence of that can be seen in his voting record as a republican.

UPDATE: Joeseph Ashby at American Thinkers makes an interesting point.

While Republicans may believe he left their party long ago, Specter has now found a way around the primary voters who want him out.

Ashby refers to these polling numbers from Real Clear Politics…

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (R) finds himself down 21 points to former Rep. Pat Toomey in a potential 2010 Republican primary, according to a new Rasmussen poll. Specter now has a 42%/55% favorability rating, while Toomey enjoys a 66%/19% rating.

Toomey 51
Specter 30
Someone else 9
Und 10

Those numbers were published on April 24. It was back in March that Specter said there was no chance of him leaving the party. Maybe he got sight of those numbers and decided his best chance of survival in the Senate was to run as a democrat? I wouldn’t be entirely surprised, it’s not as if the guy was a staunch conservative-republican.

Let me also address an issue that I know the media will try and raise from this story. The narrative when this story is reported will be how the republican party is falling apart.

Please.

The GOP is in a transition phase, they are bound to lose voters and lose members while in this transition. However, they will more than make up for those loses with libertarian leaning conservatives and independents. The same phenomenon happens when a football program gets a new football coach, players leave and some fans may follow suit, but if you start winning games everyone is happy.

–jb