Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

NEWS ABOUT: Arlen Specter

GOP Looks to Centrists for 2010

Candidates should 'fit their states': Cornyn

(Newser) - As the GOP eyes 2010, it’s turning to centrist candidates to restore its health—despite a “good riddance” attitude to the departure of moderate Arlen Specter, Politico reports. “I’m absolutely committed to recruiting candidates around the country that fit their states,” said National Republican Senatorial... More »

Dems Promised Me Seniority: Demoted Specter

(Newser) - Arlen Specter, demoted to junior spots on Senate committees after switching to the Democratic Party, thought things would be different, he told CNN today. Majority Leader Harry Reid “said that I would maintain my committee assignments,” Specter said, “and that my seniority would be established as if... More »

For Sessions, Confirmation Hearings May Feel Familiar

Specter's far right replacement once rejected by same committee

(Newser) - Even if Al Franken is seated, President Obama's Supreme Court nominee isn't guaranteed an easy confirmation process. The reason is Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who inherited Arlen Specter's seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The fiery Sessions knows the committee well: It blocked his bid to become a federal... More »

Coleman Gaffe Costs Specter Seniority on Senate Panels

Dems disappoint defector with junior slots after he speaks up for Coleman

(Newser) - Party-switcher Arlen Specter's comment that Republican Norm Coleman should be Minnesota's senator cost him seniority on Senate panels yesterday, a source told Politico. His gaffe was the final straw for Senate Dems already angry about the prospect of being bumped from senior positions by the 29-year senator. A resolution last... More »

What the GOP Needs Is a Bill Clinton

Douthat: Way out of this mess is to find a new breed of moderate

(Newser) - Republican moderates like Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Arlen Specter are right that the GOP has a hole in the center, writes Ross Douthat in the New York Times. The problem is that they’re not the right kind of centrists to fill it. Yankee Republican moderates are either just... More »

Specter Enjoys 20-Point Lead Over Toomey

But Tom Ridge would be a stiffer challenge if he nabbed GOP nom

(Newser) - Arlen Specter beat Pat Toomey 53% to 33% in a Quinnipiac poll of Pennsylvanians’ preferred candidate for US senator. But against Tom Ridge, who may become the Republican candidate, Specter's lead grows more precarious—voters prefer Specter to Ridge by a margin of 46% to 43%, the Quinnipiac poll showed.... More »

Media Let Specter Off the Hook

Didn't he sort of betray voters?

(Newser) - When the Arlen Specter story broke last week, “most journalists assumed the role of handicappers,” writes Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post. The value-neutral reporting focused on how powerful this would make Democrats, and what it meant for the wilderness-dwelling Republicans. “Little attention was devoted to this... More »

Specter: I'll Filibuster the Dems If Needed

Former Republican says GOP let him down

(Newser) - Arlen Specter may be a Democrat now, but the erstwhile Republican senator says he’s not afraid to use the F-word: filibuster, Politico reports. Specter told NBC’s Meet the Press he hasn’t promised to be “a loyal Democrat” and made the switch after realizing through “polls... More »

Dowd: GOP Has Short Memory

'Quaint' calls for balance follow reign of 'Boy Emperor'

(Newser) - As their party contracts with the defection of Arlen Specter, the GOP is complaining about a disappearing balance of power: “How quaint,” writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times—this from the party whose “arrogant” previous administration “did its best to undermine checks and balances.... More »

Sebelius: Never Mind Biden; It's OK to Travel

Newest cabinet member seeks to allay swine flu fears

(Newser) - President Obama’s new Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the talk show rounds today, insisting that people should continue traveling, despite remarks to the contrary by Joe Biden. “Traveling and being in close places is certainly something we encourage people to continue to do,” she... More »

Chatty Joe Provides 100+ Days of Gaffes

The veep has his uses, but staying on message ain't one

(Newser) - This week perfectly illustrates the yin and yang of Joe Biden, write Sam Youngman and Ian Swanson of the Hill. First, he scores a political coup by helping to convince pal Arlen Specter to defect. Then he promptly inserts foot in mouth with his advice on how to avoid the... More »

Republicans Building Big, Empty Tent: Noonan

(Newser) - With Arlen Specter gone, it’s time for the "latest round of What Should the Republican Party Do," writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. Call Specter an opportunist if you want, “but opportunists tell you something: which side is winning.” The Republican party is... More »

Republicans Play Blame Game Over Specter

Steele, Club for Growth in crosshairs

(Newser) - Arlen Specter’s departure has set off a wave of finger pointing within the Republican Party, Politico reports. Some blame Specter for not having the ideological purity to stick with the party. But others single out various Republicans they claim helped push Specter out the door, from Michael Steele, who... More »

Meghan: Specter Bailed on Us

Party needs progressive voices, she says

(Newser) - Arlen Specter has let the GOP down, but only because Republicans did the same, Meghan McCain writes for the Daily Beast. “He’s been made to feel like an outcast by a small, vocal group,” says McCain, herself familiar with the “tired rhetoric” now being hurled at... More »

Dems in a Snit Over Specter's Cozy Deal

Senate honchos fume as newbie prepares to leapfrog to top jobs

(Newser) - Some top Democratic senators are rebelling against the deal that brought Arlen Specter into the fold, the Hill reports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the aisle-crosser he could keep the 28 years of seniority he gained as a GOP senator, infuriating long-serving Democrats whom Specter will now likely leapfrog... More »

Biden Wooed Specter for Years

(Newser) - Joe Biden is the Democrat perhaps most responsible for Arlen Specter’s defection, Politico reports. The VP told a crowd yesterday that he had been trying to convince the Pennsylvania Republican “that he is really a Democrat” for more than 20 years. Specter's onetime Senate colleague recently stepped up... More »

Rendell Gets Machiavellian in Specter Switch

Senate ambitions may have played role in governor's courtship

(Newser) - Arlen Specter’s party switch was a "seriously Machiavellian" move by Joe Biden and, particularly, Gov. Ed Rendell, writes Eleanor Clift of Newsweek. Biden’s self-interest in the matter is obvious: Specter represents the all-important 60th Senate vote. But the "gregarious, ambitious" Rendell, an even closer friend of... More »

Blind GOP Drove Specter Away: Snowe

(Newser) - Arlen Specter’s departure is a “tremendous loss” for the Republican party, made “all the more painful because I believe it didn’t have to be this way,” Sen. Olympia Snowe writes in the New York Times. The party ought to have learned its lesson when Jim... More »

Newt to Specter: Good Riddance

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich’s take on Arlen Specter’s defection? Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, senator. Specter left the party “in spirit” when he cast his vote for “a $787 billion big-spending bill no elected official had even read,” the former speaker... More »

Silver: Specter Will Shift Left, But Not Too Far

(Newser) - Now that Arlen Specter is flying the Democratic colors, his new party can expect a tangible—if modest—change in his voting behavior, writes Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com. "Democrats have ample reason to be pleased," writes Silver, who crunched the numbers of all previous congressional party-switchers. "... More »

Stories 41 - 60 | << Prev   Next >>
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne