Specter won’t rule out run as an Independent

By Aaron Blake
03/17/09 08:18 PM [ET]

Sen. Arlen Specter said Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2010 as a Democrat, but might run as an Independent.

The Pennsylvania Republican has been under tremendous pressure from the GOP base since being one of just three Republicans to vote for the Democratic-led stimulus package last month.

He said in an interview with The Hill that the role of the Republican Party in Washington is too vital for him to switch to the Democratic side.

“I’m staying a Republican because I think I have a more important role to play there,” he said. “I think the United States very desperately needs a two-party system. … And I’m afraid that we’re becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party.”

At the same time, Specter said he is open to the possibility of running as an Independent with the understanding that he would caucus with Republicans, just as Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) did with Democrats in 2006.
Though he left that option on the table, he suggested it would be a last resort.

“It’s pretty hard to run without a party,” Specter said. “It’s always something that could be a possibility. But then I wouldn’t be in the Republican caucus — wouldn’t have quite the standing as a Republican.”

The decision would be harder for Specter, too, because Pennsylvania state law does not allow someone who has lost a primary to run as an Independent, as Lieberman did. Specter would need to decide to run without a party in advance of the primaries.

Specter lamented that his home state doesn’t allow for him to run as an Independent if he loses the primary. He also said he supports an upcoming effort to open the primaries to independent voters.

A recent Susquehanna poll showed 66 percent of Pennsylvania Republicans saying they would like a new senator, while just 26 percent said they would support Specter.

Specter also has a viable primary opponent in former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who lost to Specter by less than 2 percent in the 2004 primary.

The five-term incumbent senator, who switched from Democrat to Republican before running for Philadelphia district attorney in 1965, suggested that his principles might be more important than his political survival. He cited his recent decision to be one of three Republican senators to join all Democrats in supporting President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package as an example.

“Sometimes it might be too high a price to be able to stay here,” he said. “When I voted on the stimulus package, I was well-aware of the political peril.”

Specter could alienate his base again if he votes for the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for unions to organize and was reintroduced earlier this month. He was the lone Republican to join Democrats in a failed attempt to call up the bill last Congress, and he’s carefully considering voting for the bill again.

Talk of a Specter switch percolated Monday when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said in an interview with a news station that he, Vice President Biden and Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) have all tried to recruit Specter to the Democratic side.

Were Specter to join the Democrats, they would likely attain a 60-seat, “filibuster-proof” majority, with Democrat Al Franken apparently headed for victory in Minnesota’s protracted Senate race.

Specter said that prospect is not appealing.

“I think each of the 41 Republican senators, in a sense — and I don’t want to overstate this — is a national asset,” he said, “because if one was gone, you’d only have 40, the Democrats would have 60, and they would control all of the mechanisms of government.”

Leaving his party to run as an Independent would be welcome news to at least one member of the Senate.
“I’d be delighted to have him in my caucus,” Lieberman said.

Michael Sandler contributed to this article.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/specter-wont-rule-out-run-as-an-independent-2009-03-17.html