Sen. Arlen Specter Switches to Democratic Party

This is interesting, to say the least. The Democrats have been anxious to seat Al Franken (D-Minn.), to make him the 59th Democratic Senator, in order to have nearly a filibuster-proof majority. This is necessary, because the Republicans are forcing a super-majority a lot of the time. Unexpectedly, Arlen Specter (R D-PA) has switched parties, locking it up, once Franken is seated.

Of course, Specter has long been a contrarian, and his new role will not ensure a 100% party-line vote. But it's still newsworthy. To say the least.

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Die-hard 25%-ers Still Believe in Bush

Photo from source, CNN

A very unusual statistic in American politics has become evident over the last 8 years. Apparently, approximately one quarter of the American populace will follow the Republican Party, no matter who is in charge of it, or how incompetent they are. We can't be sure if there is an equal amount of Democrats who would react the same way, but I suspect the actual number of liberal progressives who march in lockstep with their party is much less than 25%.

This is a bit troubling. Because, it assures a built-in "will vote GOP" group, despite "the facts on the ground." No matter how bad or how corrupt the GOP might be at any given time, they are guaranteed one quarter of the vote. No matter how good a Democrat is, they've already lost 1 out of 4 voters.

[Excerpt]

Poll: 75% glad Bush is done

new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans feel President Bush's departure from office is coming not a moment too soon.

Seventy-five percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday said they're glad Bush is going; 23 percent indicated they'll miss him. . .

Read more at: CNN