[Recon by Fire]

It;'s better to have a Republican voting with the Dems than a Dem voting with the Dems.

Please splain the difference!

It is better to have a Republican voting with the Republicans.

[Patriot62]

It is of course better to have a Republican voting with the Republicans. In the case of Specter, he was hardly a loyal Republican and often voted against the party. But he was a Republican and thus counted towards the Republican majority in Congress no matter how he voted. Thus the Republicans control the committees and many other procedural aspects of the Senate that are just as important as winning any vote.

If Toomey is unable to defeat the Democrat challenger in November, than the Republican majority in the Senate is in Jeapardy, with all that entails.