Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell just talked to reporters on the Hill. He said Specter broke the news to him yesterday afternoon. According to McConnell, Specter said that he’d determined that he couldn’t win the GOP primary in Pennsylvania or be elected as an independent so he was switching to the Dems. McConnell was quick to paint this development as a “Pennsylvania story” and not reflective of the party nationally. Here are the notable excerpts:

We are not happy that Senator Specter has decided to become a Democrat. He visited with me in my office late yesterday afternoon and told me quite candidly that he'd been informed by his pollster that it would be impossible for him to be reelected in Pennsylvania has a Republican because he could not win the primary; and he was also informed by his pollster that he could not get elected as an independent, and indicated that he had decided to become a Democrat.

What this means, if we are not successful in Minnesota, as you know, is that the Democrats, at least on paper, will have 60 votes. I think the danger of that for the country is that there won't automatically be an ability to restrain the excess that is typically associated with big majorities and single-party rule. We've all seen a lot of interesting surveys about the popularity of the president, and we certainly concede the popularity of the president. But it's also interesting to note, if I may just pull out my poll here, there was an interesting poll, national poll that was in the Hotline last Friday, taken by POS, which is the same firm as Senator Specter has been using when he was a Republican.

And it was interesting, even though the survey indicated that people were -- you know, liked the president, wanted the president to be successful, those same respondents, when asked the question, "Would you prefer to vote for a House 2010 candidate who will help the president and congressional Democrats pass their agenda, or a candidate who can be a check and balance to Obama and the congressional Democrats, 54 -- 56 preferred a check and balance and only 34 percent of the same people who like the president want him to have everything he wants.

So I think the threat to the country presented by this defection really relates to the issue of whether or not in the United States of America our people want the majority to have whatever it wants without restraint, without a check or a balance….

QUESTION: But, Senator, you've warned about the dangers of single-party rule. But what does it say about your party that a moderate Republican from a swing state felt that he couldn't run as either a Republican or an independent and hold that seat?

Yes, that's a very good question. This is not a national story. This is a Pennsylvania story. Senator Specter indicated in our meeting -- he came to our meeting and talked to us, indicated to me yesterday, late yesterday afternoon and again this morning, that he didn't have any problem whatsoever with the way he'd been treated by the Republican conference (ph) here in the Senate.

Senator Cornyn and I were on record aggressively supporting him for reelection as a Republican. This is a Pennsylvania story, about his inability, according to his pollster, to be renominated by the Republican Party or to be elected as an independent. And so he made a totally political decision, which I'm sure you asked him, if you've already talked to him, or will have a chance to ask him -- his conclusion was, only as a Democrat would he have a chance of retaining this seat.