Sen. Arlen Specter told a boisterous crowd of union activists today that he backs a public health insurance option as part of the health care overhaul Congress is debating.

"I know you are very interested in the public component and I think Senator Schumer has the right idea about having a public component," Specter said at a rally held at the Capitol City Brewery near Union Station.

The shift -- Specter opposed a public option only months ago -- comes as Specter faces a potential primary opponent next spring in U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and as a new poll shows his favorability rating at a 17-year low.

Here are all of his remarks, as provided by his staff...

I compliment you on your tenacity and your determination and your passion. I agree with you that health care is a right.

I am sorry to be a little late but President Obama scheduled a meeting at the White House on immigration and it ran a little long. But I’m glad to see you here, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to speak to you.



We are working hard on health care reform legislation. President Obama has established a summit and invited me to attend. And I do believe that there will be health care legislation. I know you are very interested in the public component and I think Senator Schumer has the right idea about having a public component which has a level playing field with the private sector, but the public component can be included.



I started life as a Democrat. My family was a typical American family, immigrant parents, tough times during the Depression, FDR Democrats - I was a JFK Democrat. I tried in the Senate for years to have a moderate wing and when President Obama was elected and wanted to bring in the stimulus package, and came and talked to the Senators and laid it on the line about the United States facing possibly a 1929-type depression. I voted for the stimulus package - provided a key vote to get it passed. For Pennsylvania, it means 143,000 jobs, it means $16 billion, it means the continuation of Medicaid and Medicare, and SCHIP – health care for children. It was the right thing to do.

I have had a voting record over the years more in line with Democrats than Republicans. I voted for a woman’s right to choose. I took the lead with Senator Harkin on increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health from $12 to 30 billion. I voted 22 times for Davis-Bacon, 20 times for extending unemployment compensation, cosponsored legislation for the minimum wage.

There were a lot of Democrats who had been urging me to change my registration. I rode the train for three decades with then-Senator Biden from Washington to Wilmington, and I went on to Philadelphia. You know how repetitious Joe Biden can be. And Ed Rendell has urged me for years to become a Democrat. You may not know that I gave Ed Rendell his first job out of law school. He was a law student at Villanova, I was District Attorney; he wanted to become an Assistant D.A. so he could become famous and get to be governor and there you are. He wanted me to become a Democrat. And after I voted for the stimulus package I found more Republicans who wanted me to be a Democrat than Democrats who wanted me to become a Democrat. So I went with the flow and we feel very comfortable. I don’t have to look over my right shoulder anymore.



I came in with Eileen Connolly who’s holding my coat - and my wallet. The Employee Free Choice Act was mentioned, and we’re working hard to find the answer which will get early union certification and we’ll get the first contract.

But today I know your focus is on health care. I have to now to the Senate chamber. We’re about to vote on Dean Koh where the filibuster was defeated. He’s a very strong Obama nominee to be legal counsel to the Department of State.



But I thank you for coming to Washington, and I thank you for putting up with this heat and waiting and I thank you for your passion and your presence here and your rally and your enthusiasm has a big effect on what goes on three blocks away on the Congress of the United States and you will get health care this year.