With your political leaning, of course you would. The Dems will welcome him with open arms. The firestorm he will get from Rush and company will just push him that much further into the bosom of Obamaland.
This isn't from The Onion?? WOW!!! (and yes, Grizzled, it is perfectly legal. Unusual, and some Republicans will, no doubt, be upset... deservedly so, as LIEberman has upset me, but the dude can change parties if he wishes)
There are various obligations that he will support the party leadership by voting for them as majority leader of the senate and helps with campaigning. In turn the leadership rewards him with committee assignments, the DNC helps his campaign, Democractic donor lists are made available to him, and Democrats campaign for him. Depending on what the power equation is in the Senate really decides on how much or how little the Senator has to do for his party. For example Lincoln Chafee voted frequently against the Republican leaderships positions but still was loyal in regard to the majority leader vote. Given that during Chafee's term the Senate was close and the Republicans needed Chafee's vote so they tolerated his disloyalty on several issues while still supporting him. With such a strong Democratic majority its unclear how much the Democrats need to give Specter unless it does come down to several close votes regarding cloture.
Lieberman isn't an official Democrat and is listed as 'Independent'. He still caucuses with the Democrats and voted for Harry Reid for majority leader.
I knew that it was legal. I'm just not sure about what it really means. He's not legally obliged to vote with the Dems, but given that he did join them, rather than choosing to sit as an independent, does that mean that he now has to toe the line on certain issues for them? The Dems must be getting something out of this, you would think, else they wouldn’t be welcoming him like they are.
The only issue he really has to toe the line on is who he votes for to lead the Senate. That makes all the difference in which party controls the Senate.
reid probably made certain deals. e.g. judges, healthcare. and specter probably will hold on the ground on certain things. just the fact that dems will now have 60 in their caucus makes republicans pee in their pants. they simply cannot do anything now without having a couple dems. plus this puts pressure on the maine girls to consider going with dems.
Not as bad as Lieberman's sore loser campaign, but still reminds me of survivor and the people switching alliances to save their own neck. I expected him to go Independent.
All that it means is that he will get leaned on by the Democrat leaders and whips to vote one way or another instead of the Republican leaders and whips. I think that the Democrat leaders and whips will quickly learn that Specter only cares about one person on Capitol Hill. This is what you need to know about this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/02/poll-specter-could-be-toa_n_171219.html The generic "Anyone-but-Specter" is polling at 53% overall and 66% among Republicans in Pennsylvania. He's very unpopular among independents, Swine Flu among Republicans, and just peachy to Democrats.
Hmmm. Because of the current Senate organizing resolution. Specter continues to take up a Republican spot on all his current committees even though he is now (technically, I guess) a Dem. Repubs will want a new resolution, but Dems have little incentive to take one up, since they would have to make room for Specter within their committee slots. So, the Repubs will start to whine about the injustice of it all and probably once Franken is seated, the Dems will move forward with a new resolution, but one with even more favorable terms since the Repubs will want Specter off of their Committee rolls and will have to make concessions. Some basic info on this an committee stuff here: http://www.congressmatters.com/storyonly/2009/4/28/12534/2073/81/930
I disagree vehemently. The leader of the Senate is a given with 58 or 59 or 60 Dems. You can bet deals were extracted on cloture votes, particularly for health care, EFCA, and probably a few other pieces Dems want soon. Switching over means nothing unless you bring a vote with you and the important votes are no longer on the bills themselves, but on the cloture related to those bills. He can vote against stuff as long as he favors Dems on cloture votes. For Dems to clear the field for him, particularly when there was a strong possibility of a Dem beating him or any other Repub, Specter had to make some substantial promises.
i wonder if reid will give him a chair. obviously leahy aint giving back his judiciary. so i wonder what it would be. probably at least a subcommittee simply because he insisted that he wont be giving up his rank by switching.
