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Sen. Arlen Specter switches to Democratic party
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-29 10:23

WASHINGTON – Senior Republican Senator Arlen Specter announced Tuesday that he was becoming a Democrat, boosting US President Barack Obama's ability to drive his audacious agenda through the US Congress.

Sen. Arlen Specter switches to Democratic party
Senior Republican Senator Arlen Specter, seen here in January 2009, announced Tuesday that he was becoming a Democrat, boosting US President Barack Obama's ability to drive his audacious agenda through the US Congress. [Agencies] 
"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," the senator from Pennsylvania said on his campaign website. "I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary."

The decision may give Obama's Democratic allies the 60 votes needed to break through a parliamentary delaying tactic called a filibuster, provided Democrat Al Franken wins the long-delayed Minnesota Senate race.

Franken's foe, incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman, is appealing a court decision that effectively decided the race in favor of the Democrat.

Specter, one of the chamber's handful of swing-vote Republicans who sometimes break ranks to support Democrats, faced a tough primary challenge in the 2010 race from conservative Pat Toomey.

"I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania," he said.

Specter, who faced conservative anger over his vote in favor of Obama's nearly 800-billion-dollar economic stimulus package, denied that he would rubber-stamp Democratic legislation.

"My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans," said Specter, who is in his fifth six-year term.