Posts Tagged Joe Sestak
PA-Sen: As Specter Moves Left, Toomey Makes Gains in General
Posted by jaren in 2010 Elections on December 21st, 2009
Just over a year ago, Arlen Specter was campaigning for the Presidential ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin as a Republican Senator of Pennsylvania. Of course, when Arlen Specter voted for the Democratic backed stimulus package this past spring, the vote emboldened conservative challenger Pat Toomey to the point where it drove Specter out of his former Republican Party and into the Democratic Party citing poor GOP primary poll numbers.
Initially, Specter came into the Democratic Party as the only viable challenger for the nomination. At that point, he was a conservative Democrat vowing to go against the Employee Free Choice Act and a public option in health care . As his primary challenger Joe Sestak pointed out in a recent Huffington Post op-ed, where he tries to paint Specter as “Pennsylvania’s Joe Lieberman,” Specter has switched his position on both of these issues among others. Furthermore, Specter has also positioned himself to the left of Joe Sestak on the Afghanistan escalation painting himself as a dove while Sestak has taken a hawkish position.
A recent Quinniapiac poll has Specter tied with Toomey in a general election match up, while in May he had a 53-33 lead over Toomey. Specter still has a comfortable lead over Joe Sestak in the primary with a 53-30 lead, in fact, he has made gains since October when the numbers were 44-25 for Specter.
So for now, at least in his primary race, Specter’s leftward leans have worked to his favor. However, if Rep. Sestak can get his voice heard and push his message that Specter has only made his leftward leans to advance his long time career of opportunism, it could be damaging to Specter in a primary race. So far, obviously, it has not resonated. One thing is for certain, Pennsylvania politics could be changing. One year ago, no one would imagine Toomey, a Santorum-style conservative, tying or beating a Democrat in statewide polls.
PA-Sen: Rep. Joe Sestak to Run Against Specter
Posted by jaren in 2010 Elections on May 27th, 2009
Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak is apparently intending to run for US Senate against Arlen Specter in the Democratic Primary. This was reported today by Talking Points Memo. We will be monitoring this breaking story and will provide in depth analysis. Stay tuned.
Can Arlen Specter Win a Democratic Primary?
Posted by jaren in 2010 Elections on May 2nd, 2009
Arlen Specter candidly admitted that he was switching political parties for fear of losing a GOP primary, but is it really certain Specter can easily win a Democratic primary? Will Pennsylvania Democrats love Arlen Specter as a conservative Democrat rather than the “free thinking” Republican? The primaries are over a year away and that is a lot of time to see how liberal or conservative Arlen Specter really is going to be. Let’s remember, Arlen Specter campaigned in 2004 as a complimentary part of a crucial trio for Pennsylvania along with President Bush and Senator Rick Santorum, two of the most polarizing Republicans in contemporary American history.
Along with his switch to the Democratic Party, Specter was quick to try to assert his political independence saying that he still does not support the Employee Free Choice Act, the bill he once co-sponsored in 2007. Specter all but alienated labor by making that position shift about a month ago, but it is obviously not unprecedented for Specter to be one thing, then another thing, then back to the original thing (I.E. Democrat, Republican, then again Democrat), so it would not be surprising to see him switch back to his original position on that legislation.
As of now, he apparently has support in the primary from President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Pennsylvania colleague Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. But as the New York Times reported, this does not necessarily mean he will have no opposition. One of the biggest critics of this whole switch has been Pennsylvania US Rep. Joe Sestak who was considered a likely candidate for the Democratic side in the 2010 Senate race and had this to say on the Bill Press radio show:
“Pennsylvanians need to make this decision and not have it decided by Washington, D.C., Democratic party establishment.”
At the moment, Arlen Specter has completely written off perhaps the most important Democratic Party constituency in the state of Pennsylvania…organized labor. Politico repoted that Specter has been in talks with labor unions to strike (no pun intended) a compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act. However, currently announced candidate Joe Torsella, the former deputy mayor of Philadelphia, and possible candidate Rep. Joe Sestak would have to do is note that Arlen Specter not only was a Republican up until very, very recently, but was a pretty darn conservative Republican at that, not like someone like say Lincoln Chafee. Not to mention, political opportunism is usually not the most popular kind of thing to do when wanting to woo the public, which will most certainly be heavily noted by any of Specter’s challengers.
While it takes only a very small amount of cynicism to predict that Arlen Specter will likely forge a grand compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act and suddenly position himself as a champion of labor, if the Democratic primary electorate is liberal enough Specter could face a situation similar to Joe Lieberman in his 2006 primary run against the more progressive Ned Lamont. Lieberman similarly had a lot of party establishment support, but the electorate ultimately decided it wanted the more liberal anti-war candidate. Specter would also not have the option of running as an independent like Lieberman as we have mentioned before because of Pennsylvania state laws.
The main point is, my belief is that there has been a severe lack of emphasis on the fact that Specter is not necessarily going to be a shoo in for the Democratic Primary. While the conventional wisdom is that Arlen Specter is beloved by Pennsylvania Democrats for so often bucking the Republican Party, again, a conservative Democrat is a lot less loveable than a liberal Republican in a partisan primary race setting. We will see how Specter tries to frame himself in weeks to come, will it be a political “maverick” (to throw around a term that should be forever retired) not bound to any party ideology or a Jim Jeffordsesque switch of voting nearly party line after his switch. Stay tuned…