Suddenly Seeking Specter

In his 28 years in the Senate, Arlen Specter has been accused of many things. Some of his Republican colleagues grouse in private that he is sanctimonious and unreliable. A Pennsylvania moderate in a party dominated by conservatives, Specter votes with Democrats so often that the GOP once threatened to deny him his Judiciary Committee chairmanship. Meanwhile, Democrats complain he's a fair-weather friend who makes speeches about breaking with his party—but then abandons them when it comes time to vote. Specter "is always with us when we don't need him," Democratic leader Harry Reid tartly wrote in his book "The Good Fight." Not known as much of a charmer, Specter's prickliness earned him a nickname on the Hill: Snarlin' Arlen.

But at this point in his career—he is 79 and has survived bouts with cancer—Specter doesn't seem to give a damn what anyone says about him. One thing he'll never be accused of is lacking self-regard. "My voice is very important, I think, to the Republican Party," he says. If ordinary Americans could only see what really goes on in the private meeting rooms on Capitol Hill, he believes, they would surely think, "You need Arlen Specter in the Republican caucus. You need him for the country."

He leaves unspoken what might be the coda to this third-person soliloquy: "You need him in order to win." His colleagues may wince, but for reasons of math Specter now finds himself the most sought-after, and sucked-up-to, member of the Senate. He could wind up casting the deciding vote on major issues, including health-care and energy reform. Here's why: Senate rules say the Democrats need 60 votes to keep Republicans from filibustering. Even if Al Franken is (finally) seated, they're one maddening vote shy. They'll need a Republican defector, not an easy thing to get. On big votes, leaders bully members into standing with the party, and senators, fearing retaliation, usually comply. (Some Democrats are pressing the leadership to resort to a controversial parliamentary maneuver that would let them pass the bills with a simple majority.)

In recent years, Specter has broken with his party nearly 40 percent of the time. In February he infuriated GOP colleagues when he voted for President Obama's stimulus package, saying it was necessary to get the economy going. Specter sometimes brings along other defectors. Republican moderates Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe watch to see which way he leans; both followed his lead on the stimulus.

Specter casts his infidelities to his party in grand terms. He says his fellow senators become so wrapped up in political wrangling that they fail to judge issues on merit. "There's no virtue in bipartisanship," he says. "The virtue is in independent judgment and the willingness to listen and think about something."