One of the odd things about Sen. Specter's announcement is that it does not appear as if he bargained for any committees. The Dems got a +1 and really did not have to trade anything away except a "player to be named" i.e. not to contest him in 2010. It will be interesting to see if he gets any committee chairmanships.
In light of this Snowe remarked: the party's message has been, “Either you're with us or you’re against us.”
The GOP's in trouble. The harder you whip, the harder you fall.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
13 years ago
4 comments:
Do you believe that Specter will change his vote on significant issues, given his new party, or will he merely change from being a fringe Republican to a fringe Democrat? Any data on the behavior of similar defectors?
Fivethirtyeight.com did a good stars analysis. Check it out.
-oren
Thanks. Granting the limits of the study, the effect seems to be greater than I thought.
From what I understand there is a lot of procedural nonsense that goes on in the Senate for which the lack of filibuster threat is helpful.
Reed did agree to honor Specter's seniority before he switched, but no specific committees were agreed to.
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