If Specter does indeed plan to retire due to health..then he might well vote against his party..
Well, like I said, anything could happen. If Specter wants to go out that way, fine.
But you might could say with just as much certainty that Lieberman could cross over the aisle to our side, especially if he knows that the dems don't have the votes. He is not well loved (to put it mildly) by the far left because he is a moderate democrat. His future might very well be better served by distancing himself from them if it his belief that the far left is going down the toilet, which they very well may be.
One can hope so anyway.
Just as an aside, the question of how Ben Nelson might vote was brought up on this thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1403316/posts
See post #67 for an intersting tidbit on how Nelson has voted in the past. Might even follow the thread back from there if you want to. Nelson's a moderate.
Was there even one county in Nebraska that didn't go for Bush? I don't remember seeing any blue there, but I could be wrong. Nelson may not go so far as to vote with us, but it is not a foregone conclusion that he will vote against us. He may not even vote.