Democrats looking to add another seat to their Election Day victory should brace themselves for disappointment - Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter is sticking with the GOP.
Leading up to the election, some pundits had speculated that a shift in the control of Congress might cause Specter and other moderate Republicans critical of the Bush administration to switch to the other side of the aisle.
Specter was rumored to be one of the more likely congressmen to make the jump, due to his outspoken criticism of the Bush administration's controversial National Security Agency wiretapping.
But the five-term senator and Penn alumnus said in an interview last week that there is "no chance" he will become a Democrat.
"I can do more good with the issues that are a concern to me as a Republican," Specter said. "As a Democrat, I would just be another bump on the log."
After the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, Democratic Sens. Richard Shelby and Ben Campbell both switched to the GOP, saying that the Democrats had moved too far to the left.
Both houses changed hands in this election as well, but Specter and other moderates -- such as Sens. Olympia Snowe and John Warner - have remained loyal to their Republican ties.
In order to entice any politicians to make the switch, the Democrats would have to promise "institutional power," such as a high-ranking committee chair position, Vanderbilt University political science professor Christian Grose said.
Specter will lose his seat as chairman of the Judiciary Committee when the Democrats take over next year.
But Grose said that, unlike those who defected in 1994, Specter's relationship with the Republican Party is not strained enough to warrant a change.
"I think he enjoys being a moderate [Republican] and being that unique voice," Grose said.
"He's a true-blue Republican," Penn political science professor Donald Kettl added in an e-mail interview. "He's certainly concerned with the party's drift to the right, but he's likely to see this as an important occasion for helping shore up the party's center."
That may be Specter's attitude going forward.
While he wouldn't describe the Bush administration as having shifted to the right, Specter said he looks to work productively with Bush throughout the president's last two years in office.
