PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Pennsylvania's state treasurer has switched to the Democratic Party, setting up a run against Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., in 2006.
Barbara Hafer, who as a Republican backed Democrat Ed Rendell's successful bid for Pennsylvania governor, announced her switch Tuesday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday.
Her defection, which Hafer had all but promised while speaking at a political gathering three weeks ago in New York, makes her a top prospect to take on the conservative Santorum when her eight-year run as treasurer expires in January 2005.
"The governor has talked to me about running against Rick Santorum, but I haven't made a decision yet," Hafer, an abortion rights supporter, said. "I'll be meeting with a lot of Democrats over the next few months to see what they think. We'll see."
State Republican committee chairman Alan Novak called news of Hafer's affiliation change "anticlimactic."
"Judging by Barbara Hafer's own actions, she left the GOP about a year and a half ago," Novak said.
