Arlen Specter's position on who should win the Minnesota Senate race was running slightly behind his thinking on which party he belongs to, but now he's caught up with himself.

As teammate Cynthia Dizikes reported yesterday, Specter, talking to the New York Times Magazine fresh from his big announcement that he is a Democrat, said (about everyone's favorite Senate recount/contest/appeal) "There’s still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner."

Back when he was a Republican, that had, of course, been Specter's position on Coleman/Franken (and the position of all Repub Senators). And Specter has been saying that the Dems couldn't count on his support on every matter. But on a party politics matter like this?

Turns out that the part of Specter's brain that is deciding which of his positions need rethinking hadn't caught up with his tongue yet. The day after the justice-demands-Coleman-should-win quote was published, Specter told Congressional Quarterly that the comment was a mistake.

“In the swirl of moving from one caucus to another, I have to get used to my new teammates,” he said. “I’m ordinarily pretty correct in what I say. I’ve made a career of being precise. I conclusively misspoke.”

Asked who he’s backing now in elections, Specter said, “I’m looking for more Democratic members. Nothing personal.”