HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — For most of his 30 years as Pennsylvania’s longest-serving U.S. senator and prominent moderate in Congress, Arlen Specter was a Republican, though often at odds with the GOP leadership.

He helped end the Supreme Court hopes of former federal appealsJudge Robert H. Bork, who was nominated by Ronald Reagan. Decades later, he was one of only three Republicans in Congress to vote for President Barack Obama’s stimulus.

His breaks with his party were hardly a surprise: He had begun his political career as a Democrat and ended it as one, too.

(via Longtime GOP Senate moderate Arlen Specter dies – Yahoo! News)