So Arlen Specter is quitting the Republican Party to run for re-election as a Democrat.

He's says the Republican party has been taken over by the un-centrist, "right wing."

He has no such complaints about the un-centrist agenda of the Obama administration and the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate. No doubt he'll feel quite quite comfortable voting for the wealth-killing/ redistributionist agenda of the Democratic majority. He already has.

Funny, Specter claims to be a centrist, but he didn't switch parties under Bill Clinton who did govern from the political center. But then his own party was ascendent back then, under the leadership of the notably, conservative Newt Gingrich.

Today, the perks of voting with the majority and the hassle of having to run against a tough opponent in a GOP primary made Specter's self-serving decision quite easy.

A friend of mine active in Democratic politics told me a long time ago that Specter is universally disliked on Capitol Hill for his arrogance and self-promoting style. He's a Democrat now. And their problem.

Of course, Specter's decision screws Rep. Joe Sestak, who'll now have to wait several more years for a Senate seat. Tough luck, Joe. That's the way the political cookie crumbles.

The likelihood of Specter losing to a Republican like Pat Toomey in a general election seems, at this point, remote. But a year and half is a lifetime in politics and the world could be a very different place come November 2010.