PARTY SWITCHING….Over at Political Wire, Del Ali ponders the chance of Republican defections after the election:
There is a realistic possibility that if the Democrats pick up at least five Senate seats on Election Night, several current Republican Senators could switch to the Democratic side of the aisle. Remember, Shelby switched because he felt Democrats were incapable of moving away from liberalism and Campbell switched because he felt Democrats were beholden to cronyism and did not respect other views among colleagues on issues important to Campbell. In 2006, cronyism is alive and well in the GOP ranks: Arlen Specter is shunned by the GOP leadership and White House for his views on domestic surveillance while Olympia Snowe, John Warner and Chuck Hagel are shunned for their views on Iraq.
Does this strike anyone else as a realistic comment? For various reasons, I don’t see Specter, Warner, or Hagel switching parties. Just not gonna happen. Both of the Maine senators have seemed like good party-switching candidates pretty much forever, but not only didn’t they do it in 2001 when they could have followed Jim Jeffords’ lead, they haven’t even been as critical of Republican Party looniness in recent years as the other three, who have at least stood up now and again as voices of relative sanity (if only briefly).
This seems like a pipe dream. Am I missing anything?
