Specter of Doom?

April 25, 2009 at 9:07 pm

Over at

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Specter introduces bill to curb executive powers

April 23, 2009 at 8:25 pm

Earlier this week, I posted regarding Specter’s intention to put forth new legislation curbing Presidential power, including limits on Presidential Signing Statements and Electronic Surveillance. Today,

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Specter Switching Sides? In your dreams…

April 22, 2009 at 4:45 pm

An

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Life in law school…

April 21, 2009 at 12:46 pm

Alas, finals are coming at Penn Law. I’m busy being studious, but will try and post later in the week.

In the meantime, check out this very long, left-of-center piece that Arlen Specter wrote for The New York Review of Books.

At least at first glance, it doesn’t seem like the best way to woo the conservative base.

But read it tell me what you think.

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The stakes in Specter vs. Toomey

April 20, 2009 at 9:42 am

Arlen Specter’s Senate race is significant, not only because it is for an important and powerful position in the United States Senate, but moreover because his race represents a fight over the heart of both the Republican party nationally as well as the shifting political dynamic that is profoundly changing the state of Pennsylvania and other blue-leaning swing states around the country.

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Political calibration at its finest

April 19, 2009 at 7:00 pm

Welcome to The In-Specter, a free-flowing chronicle of political calibration and triangulation of the most exciting kind.

The Pennsylvania Senate Race in 2010 is one of the most intensely scrutinized in the country. Arlen Specter, the 79 year old incumbent, is one of the last of a dying breed of moderate Republicans who has managed to make enemies on both the right and the left as he attempts to represent a blue-leaning swing state and make another (final?) run for the Senate.

With 58 Democrats in the Senate (59 if and when Al Franken is seated), Specter is one of a handful of moderate Republicans that liberals hope they can count on to deliver filibuster-breaking votes on key legislative priorities for the new Obama administration. Having already broken ranks with the Republican Party over the stimulus package, Specter is in the unenviable position of having to fend off attacks from the right and the left.

Thus, Specter’s unique position makes his 2010 race one of the most intriguing in the country, and provides a good starting point from which to evaluate the politics of the entire Senate chamber as it grapples with President Obama’s expansive legislative agenda.

The goal of this blog is to provide insight and analysis of legislative and political developments in the Senate with Senator Specter’s race as the touchstone. I hope to provide information both about this specific race as well as its larger national context, and track how Specter navigates between the Scylla and Charybdis of a Republican party that would like to see him replaced with a fire-breathing conservative and a Democratic party who seeks to seat one of their own in a state that has gone blue in every Presidential election since 1988.

I invite you to become a part of this conversation and help us all better understand the dynamics of this intriguing political contest.

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