Word: specters
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...addition, Democratic leaders tried to clear the field for Specter in the primary. But they couldn't stop Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak, a retired Navy admiral whom the party had initially been recruiting to run against Specter back when he was still a Republican. Sestak has said the White House went so far as to offer him a top job in the Administration to get him out of the race; he has declined to provide details but has hinted that it may have been Secretary of the Navy. The White House denies...
Sestak, who grew up in Delaware County, has the potential to draw the liberal Democratic base away from Specter in the May 18 primary. He's striking a chord with those who have spent the past three decades working to get Specter out of office. "I think there's been too much Republican lite and not enough real Democrats around," says Darwin Roseberry, a Democratic committeeman from West Rockhill Township who showed up to hear Sestak speak at a St. Patrick's Day breakfast in Bucks County. "Specter is not a real Democrat...
Thus far, Sestak has failed to meet expectations; he was 24 points down in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. But the same survey revealed that Specter has vulnerabilities. More than half of the Pennsylvanians surveyed said their senior Senator does not deserve another term; among Democrats who know the candidates well enough to have an opinion of both, Sestak led Specter 54% to 37%. "My challenge is name recognition," Sestak says. "That's the one challenge I have." If so, it is one Sestak may be able to surmount once he starts tapping a campaign war chest that has grown...
...Specter survives the primary, he will face a stiffer test in November against former Congressman Patrick Toomey - the man whose candidacy drove Specter from the Republican Party. In 2004, Specter beat the far more conservative Toomey by a mere 17,000 votes of the million cast in the Republican primary - which is one reason Specter realized he couldn't win a rematch against him four years later in a primary that would be decided by a smaller, more conservative party base. After Specter's party switch, Toomey was down in the polls by 20 points against Specter in a general...
...Specter who is the underdog. Toomey - who stresses fiscal issues and downplays his conservatism on social issues - has been leading in most of the recent polls. He's raised more money than any other Senate challenger in the country, thanks in part to backing from the Club for Growth, a well-funded antitax organization, which Toomey ran from 2005 to 2009. He is also a favorite of Tea Party activists, who account for so much political energy on the right these days. "It's an uphill battle in the general - no ifs, ands or buts about it," says Pennsylvania...