Well, this year certainly hasn’t turned out the way Arlen Specter expected. Today came the latest bad news for the senator, as a prominent Democrat in Pennsylvania jumped into the party’s primary:
A congressman from the Philadelphia suburbs will challenge U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic Senate primary.
In an interview with The Wayne Independent Wednesday morning, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa.,confirmed his intention to run against Specter, a long-time Republican who switched to the Democratic party earlier this year.
“I am going to get into the race against Arlen Specter … for senator,” said Sestak[.]
Pennsylvania Democrats haven’t forgotten that Specter proudly called himself a Republican and friend of George Bush until it became clear that he would lose his former party’s primary. He still holds several right-wing positions unpopular in the Keystone State, not the least of which is opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act.
Sestak, on the other hand, is a career-long Democrat who opposed the war in Iraq, criticized the Bush Administration, and supported Senator Obama’s run for the presidency. He’s a very active member of Congress and a favorite of high-ranking Congressional Democrats.
If Arlen Specter loses the Democratic primary, his long political career will be over. Pennsylvania electoral law prevents a candidate from losing a party’s primary and then running as an independent. If Sestak is as strong as many expect him to be, Specter is (frankly) screwed.
Via Hot Air.
by Stephan Tawney on Wed, Jul 1, 2009