It’s no secret that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has not been well liked by his state’s Republican party as of late. A state senator since the 1980s, Specter’s last primary in 2004 was not promising. Despite the public support of then President Bush-before the former president’s popularity dropped like a stone- the long shot primary campaign of Representative Pat Toomey was able to narrow the race to 49-41%. Following the election, Specter resumed his mantle as one of the more "independent" (or politically confused) voices in the Senate. Out of the entire Senate, Specter voted with his party the fourth least number of times (only 65.3% of the time).

                Specter’s Waterloo in the GOP, however, was his decision to join just two other GOP senators in voting for the Democrat’s Economic Recovery Act. Specter staffers have admitted in newspaper interviews that, following that vote, the office phones began to ring incessantly. Conservative groups took out adds criticizing the decision and they demanded the National GOP not assist his campaign. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators branded him a traitor. Specter’s primary chances, already weakened by the defection of many moderate Republicans prior to the stimulus vote, were all but destroyed. Successive polls showed his formed rival Pat Toomey gaining an ever larger lead. The most recent poll showed Specter trailing Toomey by 21 percentage points. Barring a political miracle, it was statistically impossible for Senator Specter to even win his party’s nomination.

                So it should have come as no surprise when Senator Specter announced on Tuesday, April 28 that he planned to switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. Newspaper headlines called the move "shocking" and excitedly pointed out that the political world had been thrown into "turmoil." Pundits keep focusing on how close the Democrat’s 59 seats brings them to the magic 60, the number of seats a party needs to break a filibuster. Let us not forget that without Specter’s assistance, the GOP filibuster of the Economic Recovery Package would not have been possible. Without his vote, the GOP would not have been able to avert the ultra-liberal Kathleen Sebelius’s appointment as Health and Human Services Secretary. Or rather, had Specter actually supported his party’s own platform and the principles of many of his voters, he would have been invaluable.

                Arlen Specter, however, was not helpful in any of the efforts listed above. In fact, he voted against the GOP’s efforts to, at the very least, force more debate on every one of these issues. Why should the GOP and its conservative backers worry about the loss of a vote they couldn’t count on in the first place? Specter shies away from controversial votes and votes to please the political sentiment of the day. His lack of principle is only more apparent with his defection for personal gain and political expediency.  Somehow, conservatives are to believe that men like Specter will revive the GOP? That claim is ridiculous. As Specter’s own voting record shows, he did more to sidetrack the conservative agenda than many Democrats did. In the last election, moderate Republicans lost in droves as their fickle supporters voted Democratic and staunch conservatives refused to vote. The GOPs rightward turn is not only a good thing, it’s perhaps the best thing for the party since Ronal Reagan. The GOPs new direction is a real change that has energized the GOP’s core conservative supporters and will finally offer voters a choice between big government and big government-lite.