So I guess this means I can't refer to him as RINO Arlen Specter anymore or highlight his status as one of the Three Stooges. You have to be a member of the Republican Party in order to be a RINO, but now that is moot. The guy decided that he is switching teams ... no not like Barney Frank ... well kinda like Barney Frank ... he is going to go bat for the Democrats.

Did anyone see this coming? Judging by the reaction yesterday, I would say no. Maybe that was because just one month ago Specter was saying that he valued the two party system of checks and balances and that he was NOT going to switch parties again. (That's right, again. He switched from Democrat to Republican in 1966.) I think that Senator Jim DeMint put it well: "I would rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who really believe in principles of limited government, free markets, free people, than to have 60 that don't have a set of beliefs."

The Democrats seem happy to take him. Obama says that the Democrats are "thrilled" to have him and will throw their "full support" behind Specter. In fact, Obama says that he will campaign and raise money for Specter's reelection campaign in 2010.. more on that in a minute. "Full support" also means that the teacher's and other unions will fall in lockstep behind Specter's reelection effort.

So why is this important? Well ... with Al "the jerk" Franken pretty much set to become the Senator from Minnesota, this would essentially give the Democrats their 60 seats. They would have a filibuster-proof majority. Do you remember how crucial it was for Saxby Chambliss to hang on to his seat in Georgia, preventing the Democrats from getting their 60 seats? All of that is now completely out the window. There are many reasons why the Democrats are thrilled to have him, but there is one particular piece of legislation on which Specter's vote could be crucial: the card check bill. As a Republican from Pennsylvania, Specter decided that he did not support the card check bill. Now that he is a Democrat, will that vote change? I would likely say yes. Remember .. there's all that union support for Specter now.

So now to address the big question: why the heck did he do it? The answer is very simple. Power. Arlen Specter knew that there was a distinct possibility that he would lose his reelection campaign in 2010. His poll numbers in Pennsylvania have been rapidly slipping, and he was going to be pitted against Pat Toomey in the Republican primary. How embarrassing would it be, not only for Arlen Specter to lose his seat, but to lose his party's nomination for his own seat? So the solution: don't run as a Republican. Instead, jump onto the Barack Obama bandwagon and hope that the coattails are long enough to carry him to 2010. After all, Obama has said that he will campaign and raise money for the guy. If there is one thing that Obama is good at doing, it is campaigning. So Specter gets to stand side-by-side with THE Barack Obama and run for reelection. In the meantime, Arlen Specter has gone from a joke of a Republican to an extremely powerful player in Congress. Think about how much power this guy suddenly wields when vote time rolls around. He will caucus with the Democrats, but does that really mean he is an assured Democrat vote? Will the Republicans spend their time trying to "win him back"? If that is the case, this will certainly deflect their attention from actually getting anything done in Congress. Like that was much of an issue anyway. But I really believe that this all about Arlen Specter's ability to seize a powerful position in Congress and to keep it for a long, long time.

Reader's Digest version? Power over principle. Simple as that.