(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who announced yesterday he was switching from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party to seek reelection in 2010, said in a statement released by his campaign last month that he was a committed Republican.
 
“To eliminate any doubt, I am a Republican, and I am running for reelection in 2010 as a Republican on the Republican ticket," Specter said in a statement released March 19.
 
Specter felt it necessary to reassert his affiliation with the Republican Party after he told the Hill newspaper, in an article published March 17, that he was at least open to running as an Independent, but not as a Democrat.

“I’m staying a Republican because I think I have a more important role to play there,” Specter told The Hill. “I think the United States very desperately needs a two-party system. … And I’m afraid that we’re becoming a one-party system, with Republicans becoming just a regional party.”
 
Specter told The Hill he was open to running as an Independent like Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut did in 2006, and, if he won, caucusing as a Republican.
 
“It’s pretty hard to run without a party,” Specter told The Hill. “It’s always something that could be a possibility. But then I wouldn’t be in the Republican caucus--wouldn’t have quite the standing as a Republican.”
 
Specter also suggested to The Hill that he did not want to help the Democrats achieve a 60-vote filibuster proof majority in the Senate.
 
“I think each of the 41 Republican senators, in a sense--and I don’t want to overstate this--is a national asset,” Specter  said, “because if one was gone, you’d only have 40, the Democrats would have 60, and they would control all of the mechanisms of government.”
 
A few days later, Specter released the statement affirming that he was a Republican and was going to stay a Republican. Yesterday, he switched to the Democratic Party.