Difference between revisions of "Arlen Specter"

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Revision as of 23:06, May 2, 2009

Arlen Specter
Specter-0.jpg
U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
From: January 5, 1981 – Present
Predecessor Richard Schweiker
Successor Incumbent (no successor)
Information
Party Democratic
Spouse(s) Joan Specter
Religion Judaism

Arlen Specter is the Democratic senior United States Senator from Pennsylvania. He was first elected in 1980, and has been reelected five times since then. He has moderate to liberal viewpoints - particularly when it comes to economic and social issues. He supported Obama's massive stimulus bill in 2009. He also opposed trying to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Senator Specter has been a moderate Republican, disagreeing with the Bush Administration on numerous issues. He was one of three Republicans who supported Obama's stimulus bill in 2009. Threatened with a conservative primary challenger for his seat in 2010, on April 28, 2009, he announced he will switch to the Democratic party, providing the 60th vote needed for Democrats to stop GOP filibusters.

He is a US Air Force veteran, serving during the Korean War.

Political career

Specter first foray into politics was when he was elected District Attorney in Philadelphia in 1965. He mounted an unsuccessful campaign for mayor of Philadelphia in 1967 and was defeated for reelection to a third term as district attorney in 1973. He was defeated in the 1976 Republican Primary for U.S. Senate by John Heinz and in the 1978 primary for Governor of Pennsylvania by Dick Thornburgh. Arlen Specter was elected to the Senate in 1980 and is currently serving his fifth term. In 2005, Senator Specter became Pennsylvania's longest serving U.S. Senator. He is Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a senior member of the Appropriations and Veterans Affairs committees. Specter also made an unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1996 and ended up supporting losing candidate Bob Dole.

Political views

Specter's moderate to liberal views have affected his political career as a Republican. Many considered him a RINO (Republican in Name Only) while he was in that party. For example, his status as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (a position he held from January, 2005 through January, 2007) was in question when he made comments hinting that he would oppose candidates who would overturn Roe v. Wade. In addition, in the 2004 Republican Senate Primary Election, he only received 51% of the vote when the conservative Patrick Toomey challenged him.

Arlen Specter was the only Republican in the Senate to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act, [1], legislation supported by big labor that would eliminate a private-ballot vote over whether workers would unionize. Specter was also one of only three Republicans in the United State Congress to vote for the 2009 economic stimulus bill,

In the past, there were issues where Specter was considered marginally conservative. In 2002, he voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq, although many Democrats did so as well. A native of Kansas, Specter supports Second Amendment rights and capital punishment.

Health Problems

On February 16, 2005, Specter announced that he had been diagnosed with an advanced form of Hodgkin's disease, a type of cancer. Despite the advanced form, Specter continued working during chemotherapy. He ended treatment on July 22. Senator John Sununu shaved his head to show solidarity with Specter when he was undergoing chemotherapy and was temporarily bald.

2010 Reelection

Specter barely won the 2004 Republican primary, which allows only registered Republicans to vote, by less than 2% against conservative challenger Pat Toomey. Rick Santorum, himself a former Pennsylvania senator, described that "Specter's biggest problem ... may be that thousands of southeastern Pennsylvania Republicans who voted for him in 2004 can't vote for him in the (2010) primary. Why? Because they're no longer Republicans." In fact, the number of registered Republicans in Pennsylvania decreased by 162,000 between 2004 and 2008.[2] This is one of the main reasons why Specter switched parties; to get re-elected in 2010, he needs to rely on his left-leaning supporters.

Specter's approval ratings remained high at 62% as of 2008.

References

  1. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jun/27/nation/na-union27
  2. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/americandebate/Arlen_Specter_tilting_rightward.html

See also

External links