UPDATED – Specter: Don’t Count on 60
Damage control/PR blabbering:
“My change in party affiliation does not mean I will be a party line voter for the Democrats than I have been for the Republicans,” Specter noted in a press release. “Unlike Senator Jeffords switch which changed party control, I will not be an automatically 60th vote for cloture. For example, my position on employee free choice card check will not change.”
(H/T: Memeorandum)
It doesn’t matter much what Specter says, but isn’t the whole “filibuster-proof” meme a little over-hyped anyway? I mean, are there any expected defections from the Blue Dog wing of the Senate Democrats to the Harry Reid zombie wing? If not, you may have an actual filibuster-proof majority, but how can you expect to have all the votes you need to pass a measure when it counts? The fact is you can’t and you don’t.
I have more Specter-related links here.
UPDATE: Senator Specter’s complete damage control/PR blabbering (i.e., his official statement) is here.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Jonathan Cohn at TNR’s The Plank agrees that “filibuster-proof” is not quite a fact: “Yes, the Dems will have sixty votes in the Senate. But…Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson isn’t a reliable Democratic vote and, to a lesser extent, neither are moderate Dems like Indiana’s Evan Bayh.”
