Arlen Specter seems a little confused about which party he now belongs to:

The NYT Magazine has now published the interview with Arlen Specter in which he says he wants Norm Coleman to win -- but seeing the answer Specter gave in context, I want to leave open the possibility that Specter was joking. A bad joke, poorly delivered, but maybe a joke.

The interview is one of those Deborah Solomon Q&As, which are "condensed and edited":

With your departure from the Republican Party, there are no more Jewish Republicans in the Senate. Do you care about that?

I sure do. There's still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner.

Which seems about as likely at this point as Jerry Seinfeld's joining the Senate.

Well, it was about as likely as my becoming a Democrat.

Looks like Al Franken's gonna get seated, then, because Arlen's not really a Democrat. He just plays one when the polls show him getting his ass kicked in a Republican primary.

Arlen wants us to know it was all just a rookie fuck-up:

Specter explained to CQ that it was all a mistake:

"In the swirl of moving from one caucus to another, I have to get used to my new teammates," he said. "I'm ordinarily pretty correct in what I say. I've made a career of being precise. I conclusively misspoke."

No, really. Any day now, he's gonna get the hang of this Democrat thing. Totally. Especially since the Senate Dems gave him training wheels:

The Senate dealt a blow tonight to Sen. Arlen Specter's hold on seniority in several key committees, a week after the Pennsylvanian's party switch placed Democrats on the precipice of a 60-seat majority.

In a unanimous voice vote, the Senate approved a resolution that added Specter to the Democratic side of the dais on the five committees on which he serves, an expected move that gives Democrats larger margins on key panels such as Judiciary and Appropriations.

But Democrats placed Specter in one of the two most junior slots on each of the five committees for the remainder of this Congress, which goes through December 2010. Democrats have suggested that they will consider revisiting Specter's seniority claim at the committee level only after the midterm elections next year.

If, that is, he's still around to revisit. The idiot's not only out-of-step with Dems, he's not even impressing Pennsylvania Republicans:

Buried in this week’s Quinnipiac Poll of Pennsylvania is a stunning number that really leaves you wondering why Arlen Specter is holding out against the Employee Free Choice Act.

The poll finds that twice as many Pennsylvania Republicans want him to support the measure than want him to oppose it. Twenty six percent of Republicans say his opposition makes them less likely to back him; only 13% say it makes them more likely.

Makes you wonder what those swing voters think, doesn't it just? Methinks Arlen can't please anyone.

I don't want to predict an election that doesn't happen for a good long while yet, but I doubt we'll have Arlen Specter to kick around for much longer.