To them the big danger comes not from fuzzy threats by furious progressives, but the reality that they will face a well-funded challenge for the right. And all have been reticent in the past about casting votes that create enemies among their homestate banking and real estate interests or, worse still, energize a national, business-backed fundraising effort to kick them out.
Thus the paradox. As Democrats approach the magic number of 60, each member of their caucus becomes more valuable, more powerful and more apt to buck leadership in the name of self-interest -- and the preservation of the Supermajority.
Another reason why Specter's switch isn't quite as good as people were making it out to be.
Brad DeLong, an economist at the University of California Berkeley, says:
All I can say to Senator Specter is: spend the next year working as hard to court the Democratic base as you have worked to court the Republican wingnut base over the past decade, or I am maxing out for every single challenger you face in the Democratic primary.
Just saying...
I had never realized how much people actually disliked Specter - although I guess he was often overshadowed by larger problems, including Pennsylvania's former senator (Santorum) who was a jackass. All this is making me wish that Biden could have bit his tongue, allowed some nice Democratic challenger to come along and oust Specter once and for all and courted Olympia Snowe instead. At least she's not part and parcel of the white men's club, and her re-election is a ways away.
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