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Bad news for the Republican Party. Long-time GOP senator Arlen Specter let President Obama know this morning that he is switching parties and becoming a Democrat, citing that he “no longer feels comfortable” with his party. CNN broke the story about an hour ago (video above), and reports that some of the Senator’s Pennsylvania constituents were to meet him this morning when the news leaked, at which point Specter emerged from his office amid roaring applause from them. The UK’s Guardian has more:

“I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans,” Specter said in a statement posted on a website devoted to Pennsylvania politics and confirmed by his office. Several Senate officials said a formal announcement could come later today or tomorrow. [...]

“I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate,” he said in the statement.

“I don’t have to say anything to them. They’ve said it to me,” Specter said, when asked in a Capitol corridor about abandoning the conservatives.

The Guardian reports that President Obama contacted Specter by phone shortly after to say he was “thrilled to have” him and give him his “full support” (more coverage from MSNBC after the jump).

CNN just reported that Republican Senator for Maine Olympia Snowe was quoted as saying that Specter’s switch is “devastating” for the GOP and symptomatic of the dominance of the extreme right within the party.

Specter had been a Republican since 1966.

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