In a widely expected move, state Treasurer Barbara Hafer last week defected from the Republican Party and returned to the Democratic Party, which she abandoned in 1975.
Often described as a fiscal conservative and social moderate, Hafer has said the GOP was no longer a good fit for her due to the party's shift to the right in recent years. Hafer stunned state Republican leaders in 2002 by endorsing Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell in his bid for office after failing to win her party's support for the nomination.
Hafer, who has been discussed as a possible challenger to Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., in 2006, will complete her second four-year term as treasurer in January 2005. Prior to this post, she served as Pennsylvania's auditor general for eight years.
