How's That Switch to the Dems Working Out, Arlen?

Many people just can't seem to understand Pennsylvania politics. Hell, I live next to the state and can't understand the shenanigans across the Delaware River at times. They elected John Murtha after he called them racist but I digress.

But what of Specter?

The GOP establishment didn't push Specter aside; the voters did. In the weeks leading up to Specter's defection, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, heartily endorsed him. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's PAC gave $10,000 to Specter's campaign.

Institutional Republicans were trying to bail Specter out - just as they did in 2004, when the NRSC gave him $320,000 and individual Republican senators kicked in $83,000 to protect him in the primary.

The problem was with actual Republican voters, who, much to the consternation of the elites, don't always follow orders. The party couldn't have "kept" Specter if it wanted to (which it did), because Republican voters didn't want him! Once upon a time, the spectacle of voters defying party bosses out of principle would have been seen as healthy and virtuous.

Pennsylvania is a blue state, but it's not Massachusetts. One of the assertions surrounding Specter's switch is that only a moderate Republican such as Specter can win in true-blue Pennsylvania. Really?

Rick Santorum won two elections here, and the Democrats who have been successful statewide (Gov. Rendell, Bob Casey, Bob Casey Jr.) have been well to the right of the Democratic mainstream.

Exactly right. The Keystone State elected Santorum--a conservative ideologue--twice and only failed to re-elect him because he was unfortunate enough to have come up for re-election during the downturn in Iraq. He was on Bush's coat tails and they led to the abyss.

As for Specter becoming a traitor and bailing on the GOP, it seems his new party wants him even less and is treating him in ways the Republicans never could have sunk to. He's probably realizing that those mean things said about the Dems being liars are really quite true.

Specter has made his bed and it's small and lumpy. I am enjoying the schadenfreude so damn much.

Look for Tom Ridge to be the next Senator and beat Specter in 2010 by five or six points.

Update: Specter seemed to have a senior moment yesterday and forgot which team he now plays for.