VP Biden key man in getting Specter to switch parties

[WI_DEM]

According to White House officials, the vice president was at the center of the effort to convince Mr. Specter to change parties. They said that this has been the subject of years of bantering and discussion between the two men – who often sat together while riding the Amtrak train back home – but that the conversation turned earnest after Mr. Biden lobbied Mr. Specter to vote with the White House on the stimulus bill.

One adviser to Mr. Biden said that since that day 10 weeks ago, Mr. Biden and Mr. Specter had spoken 14 times – including six in-person meetings and eight conversations on the telephone. In each case, White House officials said, Mr. Biden argued to Mr. Specter that the Republican Party had increasingly drifted away from Mr. Specter since the election and ideologically, he was closer to the Democratic Party.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/specter-will-run-as-a-democrat-in-2010/?hp

[Ocracoker16]

1. Good for Biden

I think that Biden's long tenure in the Senate will continue to benefit the Obama administration. He knows many of the senators quite well.

[aquart]

2. Another reason why Amtrak is vital to America.

[Muttocracy]

3. I thought of this photo from February...

AP Photo 2 months ago

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. , right, talks with Vice President Joe Biden, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 23, 2009, after President Barack Obama made remarks to open the Fiscal Responsibility Summit.

[tsuki]

4. Look at the way they relate. Remember the picture of Arlen with Bush?

Bush was leaning away like he had leprosy.

[spanone]

7. bu$h* thought he was gonna 'catch' his cancer

[mb7588a]

9. The spent a lot of time together in the Judic. Committee

Usually those guys develop the best relationships in the Senate. Biden also has it with Lugar. Specter and Leahy have it too. Byrd and Cochran had it.

[LonePirate]

5. Go Joe!

Now let him move on to persuading Olympia Snowe to cross over given that Corrupt Coleman will keep Sen. Al Franken from being seated for several more months.

[Ian David]

6. I thought it was Hillary Clinton.

How Hillary Clinton got Specter to switch parties
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/28/how-hillary-clinton-got-s_n_192443.html

And Thom Hartman kinda sorta claimed some credit today, too.

And so did the Union guy he spoke to.

And last year, I phoned Arlen's office and called him a douchebag. That may also have helped.

[genna]

10. Did you really?

[Ian David]

12. I don't really care either way. n/t

[Muttocracy]

11. well, her voter registration figures helped anyway. Biden was a little more direct :)

[Hekate]

8. And thaaaaat's why some Dems keep reaching across the aisle, kids. Good for Joe; love that guy. nt