Republicans don't even reach out internally, so I don't know WHAT makes you think they'll "reach out" to you.

Quote of note:

"I would be shocked if conservatives don't extract a pound of flesh from Senator Specter," said Richard A. Viguerie, the Republican consultant, who is circulating strategy memos on the issue. He added, "Republicans have long memories. We'll never forget what he did to Judge Bork."

Bork Hearings Resurface as Impediment to Specter
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 - Many liberal women have never forgiven Senator Arlen Specter for his pointed questioning of Prof. Anita F. Hill, whose accusations of sexual harassment against Judge Clarence Thomas, then a Supreme Court nominee, riveted the nation. But conservatives have never forgiven him for crossing party lines to defeat another Supreme Court nominee, Judge Robert H. Bork.

Now, 17 years later, those conservatives are about to exact their revenge. Emboldened by their role in re-electing President Bush, conservatives are making Mr. Specter - whose brusque independence has earned him the nickname Snarlin' Arlen on Capitol Hill - a test case of their political power. As they try to keep Mr. Specter, a centrist Pennsylvania Republican who supports abortion rights, from heading the Senate Judiciary Committee, they are demanding a steep concession: support for changing a century-old Senate rule that permits judicial nominations to be blocked by filibuster.