Alabama Blue Dog Dem Parker Griffith switches to GOP

This ought to make Nancy Pelosi a little jittery today. Alabama House Rep. Parker Griffith is becoming a Republican today. Parker has opposed almost all the Democrat’s legislation, including the stimulus. I guess there is at least one Democrat who stands on principle.

From Politico: 

POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that he’s switching parties to become aRepublican.

According to two senior GOP aides familiar with the decision, the announcement will take place this afternoon in Griffith's district in northern Alabama.

Griffith’s party switch comes on the eve of a pivotal congressional health care vote and will send a jolt through a Democratic House Caucus that has already been unnerved by the recent retirements of a handful of members who, like Griffith, hail from districts that offer prime pickup opportunities for the GOP in 2010.

The switch represents a coup for the House Republican leadership, which had been courting Griffith since he publicly criticized the Democratic leadership in the wake of raucous town halls during the summer.

Griffith, who captured the seat in a close 2008 open seat contest, will become the first Republican to hold the historically Democratic, Huntsville-based district. A radiation oncologist who founded a cancer treatment center, Griffith plans to blast the Democratic health care bill as a prime reason for his decision to switch parties—and is expected to cite his medical background as his authority on the subject.

Come November, Griffith will be running against several GOP candidates one of whom is someone I introduced to you a few months back, Les Phillips.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Politico