Overconfident Dems?

The Senate unaninmously voted to strip Specter of all seniority as a result of his party switch. He is now literally the last Senator, number 99 (Franken isn't in yet), in terms of seniority. Not exactly sure why Dems decided to stick it to Specter this way. One of his main arguments for reelection has been his seniority and its ability to help him in the legislative process. He has been going back and forth across PA arguing this fact time and time again.

Beyond just hurting Specter in his reelection bid, which they are supporting, it is a bit of a slap at him personally. If they want his vote to break filibusters it doesn't seem like a bright idea to make life harder on him right off the bat.

Additionally, Specter is now a Dem. One would think they would want Dems more powerful than Repubs...instead of making Specter less powerful than every single Repub in the Senate. It seems like an enormously selfish move on the part of Senate Dems to bump up every Dem below Specter 1 rank when it also bumps up every Repub 1 rank...and places a Dem at the very bottom of the heap. Put differently, every little bit of power that Dems gain as a result of Specter being knocked down is also lost by a Dem (Specter) and every little bit of power gained by Repubs is lost by a Dem (Specter again). You don't need to be a rocket scientist to see that x - x - y = a net loss of y. Not to mention the fact that power is always more useful the more concentrated it is. Which returns to the previous point, this is a personal slap at Specter.

It also means Dems must be pretty confidend about their ability to pass legislation and win elections if they are willing to risk alienating Specter. That, or they think Specter is so dependant upon them that they do not need to worry about hurting him...or maybe they think cutting his legs out will make him that dependant upon them for those things he needs, like federal government money for PA.

Madison