There's no doubt Senate Democrats wanted Specter's help with the president's agenda this year. His vote in the Democratic column could mean significantly better chances for.

Former senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, an irascible moderate who served for three decades in a Senate increasingly dominated by conservatives and liberals, died Sunday. He was 82.

Senators have hammered out a compromise that would allow unions to swell their ranks, and a key lawmaker said it should pass this year. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) on Tuesday told the AFL-CIO ...

Former senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s most durable political figures who during three decades in the Senate became known for his command of constitutional law, died ...

April 28 of last year, Specter has become a model Democratic senator. During Specter’s 29-year career as a Senate Republican, he voted with Democrats 35 percent of the time.

Specter, the Senate's Man of the Hour. July 26, 2005 12:00 AM ET. Ron Elving Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) attends a news conference on stem cell research legislation, July 13, 2005.

PHILADELPHIA — The longest serving senator in Pennsylvania history, Arlen Specter lost his battle with cancer. Senator Arlen Specter, 82, died Sunday morn ...

Specter, Pennsylvania's longest-serving senator, said he would continue his normal duties — just as he did three years ago. He's already announced he will run for re-election in 2010, and he ...

WASHINGTON — Arlen Specter, who in 30 years representing Pennsylvania in the Senate offended Republicans and Democrats in almost equal measure with maverick votes and a frank cockiness that ...

"Senator Specter's decision today represents the height of political self-preservation," U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement.

Senator Arlen Specter said that he switched parties because his prospects for re-election as a Republican were “bleak” and he didn’t want to leave his fate to the conservative Pennsylvania ...