Specter: A Democrat, and in between, a Republican

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Arlen Specter leaves the Senate after 30 years of roll calls, debates, deal-making and votes, the longtime centrist says he wouldn’t change a thing about his political path.

Pennsylvania’s longest-serving U.S. senator began and ended his political party life as a Democrat and spent the intervening four decades as a Republican.

But he says he considers his tenure in the Senate as an independent who often bucked party leadership. It’s a choice he sees as ultimately bringing his career in elected office to an end.

Specter is unlikely to go down in history as one of the great U.S. senators.

But analysts say he was widely regarded as a smart, tireless and effective legislator who used his seniority to work the levers of power to serve constituents and bring home tax dollars.