Statements, statements galore—A recap

Big news always means lots of big statements, politicians putting out often-generic statements responding to the talk of the town. For your enjoyment, we’ve excerpted many of those statements below. Specter’s

Specter: ‘I’m not pure enough for them’ — FULL AUDIO

On a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Senator Arlen Specter reiterated his complaints that the GOP has become too conservative and too intolerant of centrist ideologies.

“They want a pure party and I’m not pure enough for them,” he said hours after announcing his switch to the Democratic party.

Full audio of call below.

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Specter says card-check compromise ‘remains to be seen’

Senator Arlen Specter said this afternoon that a compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act might be in the cards, but did not elaborate on the nature or timing of such a compromise.

When he was still planning to seek reelection as a Republican, Specter came out against the bill, known as “card-check,” which he orignially sponsored.

Now that he plans to run as a Democrat, labor support is more critical in the primary.

“I…

Conryn: ‘Political self-preservation’

National Republican Senatorial Committee John Conryn today was sharply critical of Senator Arlen Specter’s decision to switch parties. Only a couple weeks after throwing his support behind Specter’s reelection bid, Conryn said in a statement:

“Senator Specter’s decision today represents the height of political self-preservation. While this presents a short-term disappointment, voters next year will have a clear choice to cast their ballots for a potentially unbridled Democrat super-majority versus the system of checks-and-balances that…

Principle or Politics? Specter party switch had nothing to do with ideology

Arlen Specter has now made official—he is a Democrat.

That, of course, is something we have known all along. Arlen Specter has acted more like a Democrat than a Republican for years. He is a large part of the reason why the GOP’s brand identity became so blurred voters have abandoned it in droves. The senator will be more at home in the Democratic Party, although it remains to be seen whether or not the…

Santorum calls Specter’s defection ‘a huge blow’

Former Senator Rick Santorum today said Arlen Specter’s decision to switch to the Democratic party would hamper the GOP’s ability to act as a check on the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress.

“I spoke with Arlen this morning and he explained his reasoning to me,” Santorum said in a statement. “I told him I was deeply disappointed that he felt he had to do it. His decision is a huge blow to the Republican’s…

Torsella: Nothing changes

Even though Arlen Specter is now his key Democratic opponent, Joe Torsella says his run for Senate is on as planned.

“Nothing about today’s news regarding Senator Specter changes that, or my intention to run for the Democratic nomination to the Senate in 2010—an election that is still a full year away,” Torsella added.

Considering the

Basic analysis

Specter’s statement, which I’m sure he’ll echo on his conference call with reporters, is

Live-blogging wrap up

Hey folks, seems like we had a little technology issue and lost the last 15 minutes of analysis of Specter’s news conference. In brief, I want to summarize what I think are the key take-aways from this press event:

1. Specter has made it plain that he is doing this for political survival, not because of some ideological revelation. The polls showed his goose was cooked in the GOP, which he frequently referred to as…

All the Specter news you need

At pa2010.com, we strive to be your one-stop-shop big 2010 political news. But we know that also means making it easy for you to find the news we haven’t reported. So for your pleasure, all things Arlen Specter.

pa href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21798.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.politico.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F0409%2F21798.html','Politico%3A+Specter+to+switch+to+Democratic+party')" target="_blank"Politico: Specter to switch to Democratic party/a/p
pa href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21800.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.politico.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F0409%2F21800.html','Politico%3A+Obama+%22thrilled+to+have%22+Specter')" target="_blank">Politico: Obama ‘thrilled to have’ Specter

pa href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090428_Sen__Arlen_Specter_will_swith_parties__run_as_Democrat_in_2010.html?cmpid=16339736" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fnews%2Fbreaking%2F20090428_Sen__Arlen_Specter_will_swith_parties__run_as_Democrat_in_2010.html%3Fcmpid%3D16339736','The+Inquirer%3A+Sen.+Arlen+Specter+will+switch+parties%2C+run+as+Democrat+in+2010')" target="_blank"The Inquirer: Sen. Arlen Specter will switch parties, run as Democrat in 2010/a/p
pa href="http://www.politicspa.com/Roddey%20Specter.htm" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.politicspa.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicspa.com%2FRoddey%2520Specter.htm','PoliticsPA%3A+Jim+Roddey+on+Specter%22s+switch')" target="_blank">PoliticsPA: Jim Roddey on Specter’s switch

pa href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/hotline/hl_20090428_6574.php" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.nationaljournal.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationaljournal.com%2Fhotline%2Fhl_20090428_6574.php','National+Journal%3A+Creating+Quite+a+Specter')" target="_blank"National Journal: Creating Quite a Specter/a/p
pa href="http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/04/specter-party-switch-sour-grap.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Ftrailblazersblog.dallasnews.com%2Farchives%2F2009%2F04%2Fspecter-party-switch-sour-grap.html','Dallas+Morning+News%3A+Michael+Steele%22s+sour+grapes')" target="_blank">Dallas Morning News: Michael Steele’s sour grapes

pa href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0409/Not_all_Democrats_supporting_Specter.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.politico.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fblogs%2Fscorecard%2F0409%2FNot_all_Democrats_supporting_Specter.html','Politico%3A+Not+all+Democrats+supporting+Specter')" target="_blank"Politico: Not all Democrats supporting Specter/a/p
pa href="http://www.politicspa.com/mccall%20eachus.htm" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.politicspa.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicspa.com%2Fmccall%2520eachus.htm','Eachus%2C+McCall+welcome+Specter+with+open+arms')" target="_blank">Eachus, McCall welcome Specter with open arms

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