WASHINGTON — Veteran Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties Tuesday with a suddenness that seemed to stun the Senate, a moderate’s defection that pushed Democrats to within a seat of a 60-vote filibuster-resistant majority.
Specter, 79 and seeking a sixth term in 2010, conceded bluntly that his chances of winning a Pennsylvania Republican primary next year were bleak in a party grown conservative. But he cast his decision as one of principle, rather than fueled by ambition as spurned GOP leaders alleged.
"I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party,” he said at a news conference.
Tuesday’s switch was not Specter’s first. He was a Democrat until 1965, when he ran successfully on the Republican ticket for district attorney in Philadelphia.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said Specter’s switch "seems to have been done out of desperation and finding a way, any way, to stay in Washington longer.”
by the associated press
Specter, 79 and seeking a sixth term in 2010, conceded bluntly that his chances of winning a Pennsylvania Republican primary next year were bleak in a party grown conservative. But he cast his decision as one of principle, rather than fueled by ambition as spurned GOP leaders alleged.
"I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party,” he said at a news conference.
Tuesday’s switch was not Specter’s first. He was a Democrat until 1965, when he ran successfully on the Republican ticket for district attorney in Philadelphia.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said Specter’s switch "seems to have been done out of desperation and finding a way, any way, to stay in Washington longer.”
by the associated press
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