Daljit Dhaliwal: Shell shocked Republicans are still reeling after losing one of theirs to the Democratic party. After years of being wooed, Arlen Specter decided it was time to cross the aisle, and he appeared this morning with his new party mates, President Obama and Vice President Biden, and here's what he had to say.

Sen. Arlen Specter [on tape]: I do think, Mr. President, that I can be of assistance. You have projected an administration that I feel very comfortable with.

Daljit Dhaliwal: Well that's some of what Mr. Specter had to say at that news conference. Let's go straight to Todd Zwillich on Capitol Hill, who was also at that press conference. Todd, apart from President Obama saying that Specter was apparently one tough hombre, what else came out of this press conference?

Todd Zwillich: Hi Daljit, let me point out just so you're accurate, I wasn't in the room, that was a pool feed from the White House. I wasn't in there for it but I was watching closely.

John Hockenberry: You're so honest, Todd.

Todd Zwillich: Full disclosure, Mr. Hockenberry. But, I will be in the East Room tonight for the President's news conference, so we'll talk about that tomorrow. The big message from the President and from the Vice President was something that was forecast yesterday by Arlen Specter and by Harry Reid. They will campaign for him in Pennsylvania. They say they're happy to have him, Joe Biden said they ride the Amtrak together, Arlen Specter's my Acela buddy in the Northeast Corridor, that's great. The President will go to Pennsylvania, the Vice President is from Scranton, he will go to Pennsylvania, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will send money to Pennsylvania all in support of Arlen Specter. And that was the big message other than some statements on the H1N1 flu that came out of that.

Daljit Dhaliwal: So what can we expect from these primaries come November?

Todd Zwillich: Well, Arlen Specter may get a democratic challenger, but it seems less and less likely. Look, with the full weight of the President, I don't remember it exactly, was it Barack Obama? How many points did he win by in Pennsylvania, ten? Eleven? Very, very popular. Joe Biden, very popular in eastern Pennsylvania and Scranton, his hometown. And by the way, the Vice President never lets anyone forget that he's from Pennsylvania, so a lot more political capital there than being from Delaware. With the full weight of the President, the Vice President and the DSCC behind Arlen Specter, I can't imagine a formidable democratic challenger in a primary. Now, there may be one, but not a formidable one. He's gunning for a 6th term here and he's got extraordinary seniority and a position on the Appropriations Committee. No one in Pennsylvania, Republican or Democrat, forgets the fact that as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and world champion ear-marker, that Arlen Specter has steered hundreds of millions of dollars over the years, if not billions over the years to his state.

Daljit Dhaliwal: And what more did he say about his reasons for wanting to be a Democrat?

Todd Zwillich: Well, he reiterated a reason he gave yesterday, which is that he's not going to risk a 29 year Senate career on the vagaries of a Republican primary election process in Pennsylvania. He didn't go into it in depth this morning but he did go into it in fair depth at a news conference that I was at yesterday, which is he believes the party has become so polarized that challengers from the right are challenging moderate candidates such as himself. There's a list of them, you can go down the list of congressmen in the northeast and the Midwest who've been challenged. Moderate Republicans who've been challenged by hard right candidates. Sometimes those moderates will win the primaries but they're so damaged that they lose the general election. Also, Arlen Specter did a poll last week, his campaign did a poll and found out that there was almost no way he was going to beat Pat Toomey, who was going to be his Republican primary challenger. Arlen Specter has earned a lot of enemies on the right over the years, and he was also only one of three Republicans, remember, in the entire Congress who supported Obama's stimulus package. The Republicans were going for lockstep opposition, they got it in the House, they did not get it in the Senate, and only three senators voted for it and Specter was one of them. So he realized that if he stuck in for that Republican primary he was going to lose.

Daljit Dhaliwal: And what kind of an asset do you think he's going to be to the party's fortunes as a whole?

Todd Zwillich: Well, Specter will be an asset in some cases and, I imagine, a headache in others. He has a lot of seniority, a lot of know-how, he sticks up for a lot of issues that Democrats like to support. He's pro choice, he's pro medical research, he's steered millions of dollars towards the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. He'll be an asset in those ways, but he's pointed out five or six or seven different times in the last 12 hours that he is no rubber stamp, and anyone who thinks that he is going to be a foot soldier for the Democratic agenda on key procedural votes or that he's going to be what they call a rubber stamp, that he's not going to do it, and that he is not a so-called reliable 60th vote in any sense, so there will be times when they will say ooh, 60th vote, we're close to what's called cloture, we're close to that 60th vote to break a filibuster, and he just won't go with them. Those times will definitely happen and they're glad to have him but he'll be a headache sometimes too.

Daljit Dhaliwal: And in terms of his crossing over, how does this play into the wider picture of party politics in terms of the vulnerabilities. I mean, is the party beginning to lose its relevance, especially in the northeast of the country?

Todd Zwillich: Well, there is absolutely no question they've lost relevance in the northeast part of the country. Look at the House of Representatives. There is not a single Republican house member in New England. Zero. Lindsey Graham, Senator from South Carolina said yesterday when I was asking him this very question, Daljit, about the relevance of the party becoming regionalized and especially not having relevance in the northeast, he said we have three members in New York state now. That's not a viable party. We have three Republicans in New York, and none in New England. Two senators from up in Maine, Judd Gregg from up in New Hampshire is retiring and may be replaced by a Democrat. He said I'm a right leaning guy, a right of center Republican, and I'm saying we can't survive this way. Olympia Snowe, the Republican from Maine said to me, she's a moderate who's done very well, she said I won my last election with 73% of the vote in a blue collar state, and you know what? After I did it, no one from the RNC or from the Republican Party called me up and asked me how I did it.

Daljit Dhaliwal: So how to Republicans meet these challenges going forward? Is this sort of signaling the end of the two party system in American politics?

Todd Zwillich: I don't know if it signals the end of the two party system. It's possible that it does, but Specter's view at least is that it's the opposite, that the parties are so polarized, and that the Republicans have become so conservative, that nobody can straddle the middle.

John Hockenberry: Oh come on, there's a third party now. It's called the Incumbents. And Leiberman's one and Specter's one and Shelby's one. I'm such a grump.

Todd Zwillich: John, I know that you think that and I don't think that you're wrong about that at all. Incumbency has always been protected in Congress, let's face it. These guys, especially these old timers, they're powerful. They find a way to win, and Arlen Specter and Joe Leiberman are smart enough to know which way the wind blows in their states. They guy's been in Senate for 30 years, he knows how to win in Pennsylvania. So he did this 'cause he knows how to win. As far as the Republicans, there's a big debate going on in the Republican party right now about how exactly they stay relevant, or get relevant, let me put it that way.

John Hockenberry: Lot's of news this morning, Todd Zwillich, thanks for helping us out with Arlen Specter's switcharoo.