Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

March 27, 2009

Reid Tried to Get Specter to Flip

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) acknowledged that he had reached out to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) in recent weeks to try to convince him to abandon the Republican party, reports CQ Politics.

But Reid said Specter effectively answered the question by announcing he would vote against limiting debate on a major Democratic priority -- so-called "card check" legislation that would ease union organizing rules.

Said Reid: "Yes, I've talked to him. But I think he -- in coming out against card check -- kind of stopped everyone from being able to help him."

Nonetheless, Reid was hopeful Democrats would get their 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the 2010 elections.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the creator of Political Wire, a political column updated around the clock with the most interesting news, buzz and commentary.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

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