Specter’s switch cuts reach of GOP

WASHINGTON -- With Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democrats, the Republican Party is increasingly at risk of being viewed as a mostly Southern and conservative party, an identity that might take years to overcome.

Specter's move, which rocked Congress and the political world yesterday, is the latest blow to Republicans, especially in the Northeast, once a GOP stronghold. The region's Republicans now have been reduced to a scant presence in the House and a dwindling influence in the Senate.

But Specter's switch has symbolic and immediate ramifications for the GOP nationwide. It makes it easier for Democrats, fairly or not, to paint the party as ideologically rigid and alien to large swaths of the country.

Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the Senate's few remaining moderate Republicans, called Specter's decision another sign that her party must move toward the center.

"Ultimately, we're heading to having the smallest political tent in history," Snowe said. "If the Republican Party fully intends to become a majority party in the future, it must move from the far right back toward the middle."

But Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was defiant.

"I do not accept that we are going to be a regional party," he said. "We're working very hard to compete throughout the country."

Specter, 79 and seeking a sixth term in 2010, conceded bluntly that his chances of winning a Pennsylvania Republican primary next year were bleak in a party grown increasingly conservative. But he cast his decision as one of principle, rather than fueled by political ambition as spurned GOP leaders alleged.

"I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party," he said at a news conference. He added: "I am not prepared to have my 29 year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate."

Specter's departure follows recent Republican losses in once-reliable states. While Barack Obama was cruising to the White House last fall, Republicans were losing long-held Senate seats in Virginia, Alaska, Colorado, New Mexico and North Carolina.

In the House, Republicans have suffered deep losses in the past two elections, especially in the Northeast. Last week, Democrat Scott Murphy won a special election in a heavily Republican congressional district in upstate New York. Murphy will be sworn in today, giving Democrats' 256 House seats to 178 for Republicans with one vacancy.

"The Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right," Specter said. He accused party leaders of abandoning moderate Republicans in tough races, saying, "There ought to be an uprising."

In the 1970s,'80s and early'90s, the nation's political realignment favored the GOP. Voters in many of the 11 former Confederate states ousted Democrats by the dozens, no longer accepting the old odd-bedfellows alliance of Southern conservatives and Northern liberals.

In recent years, the tide has reversed. Moderate-to-liberal voters in the Northeast and Pacific West felt increasingly at odds with the national Republican Party, and they began electing more Democrats to local and federal posts. Obama won surprising victories in Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana, though it is far from clear that Democrats can hold those states.

Republican leaders, meanwhile, faced an uphill battle in next year's Pennsylvania Senate race even before Specter made the switch. In that sense, they probably have lost little. Besides, only 15 years ago some pundits predicted permanent minority status for Democrats, following their huge losses in the 1994 elections.

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U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., welcomed Specter's move, saying Specter "always brings a credible and moderate voice to the debate. His decision does not, however, diminish the need for more bipartisan cooperation generally in Washington."

And U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., issued a statement, saying Specter "has given great service to our country, and I have tremendous respect for him. This is the decision he has made, and we welcome him."

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said, "I welcome him with open arms."

"I commend Senator Specter on his decision to work with President Obama and Senate Democrats to help turn our economy around, create jobs and put the country back on the right track," said Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

But Rep. Robert J. Wittman, R-1st, said he was concerned about the impact Specter's decision will have upon maintaining a fair and balanced system of government.

"Our nation's founders envisioned a system of checks and balances, and with the now filibuster-proof Senate any chance for minority input and full debate on issues may be ignored with control of both the executive and legislative branches firmly in the hands of one party."

Staff writers Jeff E. Schapiro and Jim Nolan contributed to this report.