Tough Week for Republicans

But then, every week lately is a tough week for Republicans.  First the Republicans became the semi-official Torture Party. Then, while the Republicans are still bragging about stripping the “porky” stimulus provisions for flu pandemic preparedness, we have this pesky little flu pandemic.  Finally, the humiliation has become too much for at least one Republican Senator.  Facing a very tough primary within the rabid rump party of the Pennsylvania GOP, Arlen Specter has announced he is becoming a Democrat. When Franken is seated, that will make a filibuster-proof 60-seat Democratic supermajority.
In concrete terms, this doesn’t change the calculus as much as it might seem.  Specter was one of the three Republican Senators that would be targeted for arm-twisting first, the other being the Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, the Three Stimulus Musketeers (or Stooges, if you prefer).  However, Specter’s incentive here is to win a Democratic primary in a relatively blue state, and he definitely has an incentive to tack left somewhat, if not as much as Obama might like.  And even with 60 nominal Democrats, Ben Nelson (D-Neb) is very dependent on corporate donations and is pretty dedicated to obstructing a progressive agenda. But it means Specter’s vote is now default Democratic, rather than having to be bought off.  Why is this important?  Because it means that even with Nelson being obstructionist, only one of Snowe/Collins needs to be bought off with legislative concessions.  Rather than bringing them both along as a bloc, the Democrats can bid them against each other.  So while it really only matters at the margins, this development could really improve Obama’s ability to accomplish his agenda.