Specter: A Democrat, and in Between, a Republican

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Arlen Specter leaves the Senate after 30 years, the longtime centrist says he wouldn't change a thing about his zig-zag-zig political path.

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

He says he considers his Senate tenure as an independent who often bucked party leadership. It's a choice, he says, that ultimately brought 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.