My office just exploded in high fives and the calls came in about Specter switching parties.
Really it was his only option to retain the seat, Pat Toomey had him beat.
On a policy level I'm not sure how much this will really effect legislation in the Senate (Specter says he's still not backing EFCA for example) but it will obviously making reaching the magic 60 that much easier on key votes going forward. From a symbolic standpoint it's further testament to just how far gone the GOP has become.
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The gains may be not in key votes, but in a whole raft of minor ones.
Historically, party changers vote radically differently on procedural and minor matters, while sometimes sticking to their guns on a few key issues. With a filibuster proof majority, and little political hay to be made from acting as obstructionists on minor issues like non-SCOTUS nominations, small appropriations, adn technical issues in bills, the Republicans are now much less relevant.
It also puts another nail in the coffin in the whole notion of a viable Republican party in the Northeast. Maybe its time to revive the Whig party so that conservative Northeasterns have an option other than the Southern regional GOP which has a majority to leave the Union in Texas.
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