PA tax amnesty ad

Apparently it's real.

Zero tolerance policy

Philadelphia residents were caught having fun, so the city banned it.

(ht Radley)

Specter of doom (for the GOP)

I'll have more thoughts on this later. For now, his statement:

Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.

Quoth TNR:

Specter is one of the better-known senators in America. If you follow politics even casually, you've seen or heard him on the news before. So it's going to register with you that a major Republican senator has decided his party has become too extreme for him. And if you're a Republican, you might wonder if it's become too extreme for you, as well.

Let there be no further doubt, Democrats are now the big tent party. In a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, only 21 percent of Americans identified as Republican. Even allowing for how much of an undercount that could be, it's still startlingly low.

Yet you'll read many conservative blogs reacting to the news with "we didn't move to the right, Specter became more liberal."  Heads, meet sand.

In my opinion Specter is one of the greatest public servants in the US Senate; one who actually votes against his party often enough when they're wrong. I don't agree with him on everything, but I'm pretty sure the U.S. would be a better place if we had a few more Arlen Specters in office.

Update: NYT has a timeline of Specter's career.

TPM analyzes why Specter had to switch.

Nate Silver looks at the consequences.