>>The rumors are true:
>>
>>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97RIT0G0&show_article=1
>>
>>Snippet:
>>
>> Veteran Republican Sen. Arlen Specter disclosed plans Tuesday to switch parties, a move intended to boost his chances of winning re-election next year that will also push Democrats closer to a 60-vote filibuster-resistant majority.
>>"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," Specter said in a statement posted on a Web site devoted to Pennsylvania politics and confirmed by his office. Several Senate officials said a formal announcement could come later in the day or Wednesday.
>>
>>
>>It was actually announced on CNN as a done deal just now, but I couldn't find a link that was dated today (yet).
>
>He has been called a RINO (Republican in name only). Now he isn't even that.
>
>Maybe with Joe Biden having left the Senate to be VP, Spector can take is spot as chief blowhard ;-)

I guess a two-party system is not as important today as it was last month:

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/04/28/specter-had-disavowed-a-switch/

[Democrats] are trying very hard for the 60th vote. Got to give them credit for trying. But the answer is no.

I'm not going to discuss private talks I had with other people who may or may not be considered influential. But since those three people are in the public domain, I think it is appropriative to respond to those questions.

I am staying a Republican because I think I have an important role, a more important role, to play there. The United States very desperately needs a two-party system. That's the basis of politics in America. I'm afraid we are becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party with so little representation of the northeast or in the middle atlantic. I think as a governmental matter, it is very important to have a check and balance. That's a very important principle in the operation of our government. In the constitution on Separation of powers.