Arlen Specter: Fuzzy Math

WASHINGTON-Backslaps all around as President Obama and Democratic Senators convinced chronic-cranky-pants Senator Arlen Specter to switch allegiances to the Democratic Party in return for support in Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary next year, presumably providing the Democrats with an all-important 60th vote.

Meanwhile, mathematicians at MIT were busy working on formulas to help predict the actual impact of this move, given Specter’s history of being a centrist, and not much of a Republican to begin with.

So far, the mathematicians have estimated the net-effect of the switch to be something in the range of “slim” to “none”. One mathematician noted that Specter tends to vote with Democrats when the moon is full, suggesting that if Democrats introduce bills strategically using the lunar calendar, they just might get their money’s worth from Specter’s defection.

The mathematicians next project? Devising a formula that accurately predicts when marginally newsworthy stories get extensive national coverage.