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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Republican senator switches party | Republican senator switches party |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| US Republican Senator Arlen Specter is to switch sides and become a Democrat. | US Republican Senator Arlen Specter is to switch sides and become a Democrat. |
| The move would give the Democrats 59 votes in the senate, just one short of the 60 needed to overturn Republican attempts to block legislation. | |
| The Democrats are expected to pick up their 60th vote when the result of the still-disputed Minnesota senate race is decided by the courts. | |
| Mr Specter, a moderate, said that since he joined the Republicans in 1980 the party had "moved far to the right". | |
| "I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," he said in a statement announcing the switch. | |
| He added: "My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans." | |
| Mr Specter was facing a tough challenge from conservative Pat Toomey, in a primary election to decide who would run as the Republican candidate for Mr Specter's senate seat in 2010. | |
| There will now be 57 Democrats in the Senate. Two independents also vote with the party. |