Veteran Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania discusses his switch to the Democratic Party at the White House with President Barack Obama in Washington, Wednesday, April 29, 2009 (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
HP:
President Obama and Vice President Biden joined former Republican Senator Arlen Specter at a press conference on Wednesday morning, welcoming him to the Democratic party.
Biden introduced the Pennsylvania senator, saying it gave him "great pleasure to officially be in the same caucus as Arlen Specter ... it's just a delight."
Specter pronounced himself "ready willing and anxious to take on all comers in the general election" and restated that he would not be an "automatic sixtieth vote" for Senate Democrats. But he told Obama he thought he could "be of assistance to you" and that "you have projected an administration that I have felt very comfortable with."
TPM:
Obama praised Specter for his work on health care, education, expanding America's manufacturing base and medical research. Pointing out that Specter has battled multiple life-threatening diseases, Obama called the senator "one tough hombre."
"I don't expect Arlen to be a rubber stamp," Obama said. "In fact, I'd like to think that Arlen's decision reflects recognition that this administration is open to many different ideas and many different points of view."
The president added, "I'm eager to receive his counsel and his advice, especially when he disagrees."
Swamp:
Specter also told a little story on Obama this morning: Specter, who was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia, and raised in Russell, Kansas, said the young senator from Illinois, whose mother had hailed from Kansas, once had a question for him:
"I got to know the president to some extent in the Senate,'' Specter said. "The president approached me when he was Sen. Obama, before the Democratic primary, and he said, 'Tell me, if a Jewish kid from Kansas can carry Pennsylvania, how can a black kid from Kansas carry Pennsylvania?'...
"And I gave him some advice.''
The advice apparently ultimately, panned out. Sen. Hillary Clinton carried the 2008 Democratic primary there, Obama won the state in November and he made Clinton secretary of state.