Sen. Arlen Specter to switch parties

[LowlyPion]

Time presents an interesting view of the Republican Party now with the defection of Specter:

Republicans in the Wilderness: Is the Party Over?
By Michael Grunwald Thursday, May. 07, 2009
..."Chick-fil-A can get fabulously wealthy with a 20% market share," scoffs Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, President Ronald Reagan's political director. "In our business, you need 50% plus one." It's probably true that since 200,000 Pennsylvania Republicans have switched parties, Specter followed them to save his own political skin, but it's hard to see how the mass exodus bodes well for the GOP. You can't have a center-right coalition when you've said good riddance to the center.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1896588,00.html

Buried within is also news that Joe the Plumber is apparently quitting the Republican Party along with Arlen Specter.

... Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he's so outraged by GOP overspending, he's quitting the party ...

They can't even keep Joe the Plumber? Where will their ideas come from?

 

[LowlyPion]

So Specter lost his seniority yesterday, but today gets a Sub-Committee chairmanship - Judiciary Crime and Drugs Sub-Committee.

Dems give Specter Judiciary subcommittee chair
By LAURIE KELLMAN and KIMBERLY HEFLING – 36 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats gave party switcher Arlen Specter a plum Judiciary subcommittee chairmanship on Thursday as a potential primary challenger to the veteran Pennsylvania lawmaker stepped forward.

Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois said he would give up his chairmanship of the Crime and Drugs subcommittee in exchange for becoming chairman of a panel on human rights. The move, he said, would "best utilize Senator Specter's talents and experience in our caucus."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., indicated later that the deal was not final and had to be worked out.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVxZU8Co2GhDJbwy1R6zN6sHO-CAD981GQSG0

 

[chemisttree]

He's still listed.
http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm

Given the shrinking nature of the Republican Party, he should just stay in place to keep it representative of their relative numbers in the Senate shouldn't he?

He's just been delisted by Reid.

 

[LowlyPion]

I suppose the website will have to catch up. It still shows Specter caucusing with the Republicans.

http://judiciary.senate.gov/about/members.cfm

Dick Durbin was rather magnanimous in ceding his sub-committee to Specter after he was stripped of seniority.

The way he's going Specter may not be running in 2010 anyway. His transition to Democratic ideals has been a little less than graceful.

When it catches up it will show Sessions as the ranking member for the Republicans. They are having to dig deep.

 

[LowlyPion]

In the race to oppose Specter, it looks like Specter is doing the right thing.

Tom Ridge has declared himself out of the race now.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/05/07/1925437.aspx

So that means that if he gets by the Democratic Primary, that he will likely have an easy go of it against the more rigidly conservative and apparently unacceptable to the general electorate Twomey.