Why Specter’s Coleman comment shouldn’t surprise you

Everyone was shocked – shocked! – when newly Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) suggested he wants Republican Norm Coleman to be named the winner of Minnesota’s Senate race.

But at The Hill, we saw it coming.

After all, in March, Specter said it was absolutely vital to the country that Republicans have at least 41 votes in the Senate. Thanks to Specter’s party switch, if Democrat Al Franken wins in Minnesota, as is widely expected at this point, Republicans would be stuck at 40.

“I think each of the 41 Republican senators, in a sense – and I don’t want to overstate this – but is a national asset,” he said at the time. “Because if one was gone, you’d only have 40, the Democrats would have 60, and they would control all the mechanisms of government.”

“The United States very desperately needs a two-party system,” he continued. “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.”

Then again, that wasn’t the only thing the old Specter said that turned out to be old hat a month later.

Specter has since backed off his suggestion about Coleman being the rightful winner, but maybe he really does want Coleman to win.

-Aaron Blake