The politics of bolting.

• Author: Gruberg, Martin
• Position: Political Parties

BOLTERS ARE ALL around us. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas had been a Democrat before switching to the GOP. Mississippi Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck switched to the Republicans in 2003. The Bush Administration tried to lure some Southern Democratic senators (such as Zell Miller of Georgia and John Breaux of Louisiana) into crossing the aisle. Since 1947, more than 20 members of Congress have become renegades, including Sens. Ben Campbell of Colorado and Richard Shelby of Alabama. New England defectors include Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, James Jeffords of Vermont, and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. (Earlier in Connecticut, Lowell Weicker bolted from the Republicans to become an Independent governor of the state and Thomas Dodd ran as an Independent in an unsuccessful attempt to hold his Senate seat.) In the 1950s, there was Wayne Morse of Oregon who, like Jeffords, declared he was an Independent, though he eventually joined the Democrats. Other turncoats include Phil Gramm of Texas, Donald Riegle of Michigan, Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, and Albert Watson of South Carolina.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is an apostate from the Democrats to the Republicans and then to independency, whereas former New York Mayor John Lindsay left the Republicans for the Democrats. St. Paul's former mayor, Norm Coleman, deserted the Dems to become a Republican senator from Minnesota. Gov. Sonny Perdue switched from the Democrats in 1998, while Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire bolted from the GOP and then came back into the fold, only to lose his seat in the 2002 primary.

Let us not forget Rep. John Anderson who, in 1980, ran first for the Republican presidential nomination and then ran as an Independent for president, with former Wisconsin Gov. Pat Lucey (an ex-Democrat) as his running mate. Remember, too, that George Wallace ran as a Democrat for president in 1964, as an Independent in 1968, and as a Democrat in 1972.

A lot of Southern Democrats have joined the Republicans, including Sens. Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth in Noah Carolina. Gov. Mills Godwin of Virginia served one term as a Democrat and one as a Republican. Harry Byrd Jr. of Virginia, who succeeded his father in the Senate in 1965, ran as an Independent lest he be defeated in the Democratic primary but, once elected, continued to participate in the Senate Democratic caucus (see Joe Lieberman).

That brings us to Arlen Specter, who was a Democrat until 1965, when he ran successfully on the Republican slate for District Attorney of Philadelphia. He was elected to the Senate in 1980 and reelected five times. Specter planned to seek a sixth term in 2010 but realized that his chances of winning a Republican primary were bleak in a party grown increasingly conservative. (Specter was a supporter of abortion rights and stem cell research and opposed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.)

After months of exploring a change with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and Vice Pres. Joe Biden, Specter announced his switch in April 2009. He bad been a nonpartisan voter in the Senate (being one of only three Republicans to support Pres. Barack Obama's stimulus package). He opposed Robert Bork's nomination for the Supreme Court, but backed Pres. George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominees, gun rights, and school vouchers.

Specter was lauded as a centrist by some but damned as a turncoat by others. Specter himself noted that, in 2008, more than 200,000 Pennsylvania Republicans bad changed their registrations to become Democrats. He failed to win Democratic primary endorsement in 2010. His Democratic opponent's ad showed Specter proclaiming: "My change in party will enable me to be re-elected." It also displayed Specter being praised by Bush and holding hands with Sarah Palin. The commercial ended with the words: "Arlen Specter changed party to save one job. His, not yours."

Then there is Charlie Crist. In 2010, Gov. Crist of Florida, running for the Senate, decided to bolt from the GOP and run for the office as an Independent after he trailed former slate House Speaker Marco Rubio by double digits in the polls. At one time, Crist seemed to have an easy race. (He would have been a shoo-in had he opted to seek reelection as Governor.) Crist...