Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania is certainly one of the more interesting members of the Senate and truly an independent. A Democrat until he ran for office in Philadelphia in 1965, because he saw no opportunity to get ahead without a switch of party, he was comfortable as a Republican in his early years in the Senate, but then became more and more a maverick who many thought belonged in the Democratic party.
Now, because of growing difficulties adjusting to the rightward tilt of the GOP, Specter has switched back to the Democrats, and assumed that he would keep his seniority. But because of his maverick nature and refusal to term himself a "loyal " Democrat, the party caucus decided to reject his seniority and to treat him as a beginning freshman in the party, which has angered Specter.
So I have a feeling that he must regret his decision to leave the Republican party, and the possibility that Tom Ridge, former governor and Homeland Security Secretary under George W. Bush, might run for the Republicans as their candidate for Specter’s Senate seat in 2010, makes it possible that Specter might yet be forcibly retired next year anyway, something Specter was trying to avoid by evading a Republican primary against a conservative opponent. And, despite President Obama’s pledge to campaign for Specter, the senator might yet have a strong Democratic opponent for the Senate nomination as well.
So the Pennsylvania Senate race may be one of the most interesting races in the midterm elections of 2010. One thing is certain: Arlen Specter will not leave the political scene quietly!
Serves him right.