Just now breaking on MSNBC that Arlen Specter is going to announce he is switching parties, which will give the Democrats that 60 vote margin.
UPDATE:
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning.
Specter’s decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next Senator from Minnesota. (Former Sen. Norm Coleman is appealing Franken’s victory in the state Supreme Court.)
“I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary,” said Specter in a statement. “I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election.”
He added: “Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.”
(emphasis added)
I highlighted that last part because that statement right there symbolizes the problem with the GOP today. The Republicans will paint Specter as some sort of traitor, but the fact is that the GOP has become the traitors. Instead of welcoming a wide array of ideas and beliefs, they have shrunk the size of the tent.
Hopefully this will be a wake up call to the GOP, but I seriously doubt it. Realizing problems with their own party is something they have never been good at.