This is big, big, big, — BIG.
Arlen Specter has announced that he is switching parties, and running for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary. This now puts the Democrats at 59 Senate seats — and would be the magic 60 seats, assuming Al Franken is eventually seated from Minnesota.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=143375