Well, in the not really news department, Senator Specter of Pennsylvania has officially left the Republican Party and joined the Democratic Party, an act somewhat akin to a man marrying his long-time mistress after his long-suffering wife finally divorces him. I hope the change makes the good Senator happy, although I suspect it will negatively impact his newsworthiness. As a Republican In Name Only, the news media could always go to him for a sound bite criticizing the positions of the party he ostensibly belonged to, which sound bite would then be bandied about on the Sunday morning pundit parades as evidence of dissension in the Republican ranks. Now, I fear, Senator Specter is just one more Democratic pol spouting the nonsense one usually expects to hear from Democratic pols and so the media will have to go to someone else for their news of Republican dissension. They’ll find someone to take over Sen. Specter’s role as Republican nonconformist soon enough, I think.