"The differences in the two parties could not be more Clear."

This is what Congressman Parker Griffith said when he announced his switch from the Democrat to the Republican party, as seen on this video clip on Real Clear Politics.

Griffith's switch is another sign that political winds are shifting, and Republcans could have a much better year in 2010. The timing is of Griffith's announcement is interesting.

Griffith, a radiation oncologist, heard from constituents loud and clear this summer that the government take-over of the nation's health care system proposed by Barack H. Obama and Congressional Democrat leaders is not popular. No doubt the Senate cloture vote on the health "reform" bill at 1 a.m. Monday and its imminent passage this week had a lot to do with the timing. And to be fair, Griffith was never on board with the plan, just as he has been unsupportive of most of the major legislation brought forward this year, such as the stimulus package and cap & tax. Although Griffith's district has been in Democrat hands for years, it is a conservative district that he won by three percentage points in an open-seat election last year.

This switch could be the beginning of a repeat of a trend we saw beginning in the 1980s when the popularity of President Reagan caused hundreds of federal, state and local elected officials to switch to the Republican Party. This trend continued through many of the Clinton years in the 1990s. In the past decade, it's probably safe to say the the trend of party-switching elected officials has been away from the GOP, with a recent example being Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Given the mood of the voters, the anxiousness about the economy, and growing unpopularity of Democrats, Griffith's announcement could be the first of many. A rockslide begins with movement of a single pebble.