Arlen Specter, the senior Senator from Pennsylvania, switched parties for no higher reason than to save his seat: that is what should worry Republicans. That Specter thought he had no chance of winning as a Republican in a state that until the 2006 mid-terms had two Republican Senators is a sign of how far and how fast the GOP is falling.
A significant element of the GOP’s problems is illustrated by these two numbers, which come from Ron Brownstein’s latest National Journal column:
“In the Senate, for instance, Democrats hold 22 of the 58 seats representing the 29 states that twice voted for George W. Bush.
…
After Specter’s leap, Republicans hold just two of the 36 Senate seats in the 18 mostly affluent and secular “blue-wall” states that twice voted against Bush — and that have now voted Democratic in each of the past five presidential elections.”
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