Arlen Specter, staunchly centrist senator, dies at 82

Arlen Specter, the outspoken former Pennsylvania senator, has died at age 82 from complications of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Specter was known as a diehard centrist who fervently steered clear of party lines, going as far as switching from being a Republican to a Democrat in 2009. Specter gained a name for himself in the 1960s when the then-prosecutor developed the controversial "single-bullet" theory, positing that only one bullet struck President John F. Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally. He was elected to the Senate in 1980, launching a 30-year career that saw him thwarting Judge Robert H. Bork's Supreme Court nomination, accusing Anita Hill of "flat-out perjury," helping defeat President Clinton's national health care plan, and pushing for stem-cell research funding. The senator had a host of enemies alongside his host of friends, but all the while stuck to his political guns. He will be missed.  [Source]

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