Monday, May 4, 2009

Rough sailing for Admiral Sestak

Joe Sestak is not exactly throwing down the red carpet to welcome longtime Republican Sen. Arlen Specter into the Democratic fold.

Throwing the first punch may be more like it.

Specter rocked the D.C. and Pennsylvania political worlds last week when he announced that after 29 years as a Republican senator from the Keystone State, he was abandoning the GOP and crossing the aisle to become a Democrat.

This was not some huge philosophical shift for the moderate Specter. It was a case of political survival.

Specter once again left his GOP brethren seething when he provided the crucial vote to pass President Barack Obama’s massive federal stimulus plan.

They vowed, as they seemingly have every six years for the past two decades, to take Specter down. To that end, former congressman Pat Toomey, who nearly accomplished the task in 2004, again was planning a challenge to Specter in the Republican primary. And the polls said Toomey likely was going to do just that.

Specter could read the numbers as well as anyone. He realized he likely would not survive a bruising primary fight among Republicans. So he pulled an end-run, stepped into the phone booth and emerged wearing the cape with the big “D” on his chest.

He was welcomed with open arms by President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. They seemed to indicate Specter would get smooth sailing on his way to the Democratic nomination. Nobody told Sestak. The former admiral is roiling the Democratic waters.

Up until a few weeks ago, Sestak had pretty much been saying he had no interest in seeking higher office, again and again commenting that “I love my job.”

That was before the Toomey factor. Sestak, with a limited statewide recogniation, likely would not beat Specter in a general election. But Toomey, whose arch-conservative beliefs seem to fly in the face of the increasingly middle-of-the-road key Philadelphia suburbs, was another matter.

Suddenly Sestak was mulling his options. That hasn’t changed since Specter’s sudden conversion.

Sestak is not yet ready to fall in line with the party leadership under the Specter tent.

Yesterday he was again on CNN saying exactly that, and more specifically pointing out that he just might challenge Specter in the Democratic primary. Sestak said he was “kind of disappointed” in the Democratic establishment in D.C. in their rush to anoint Specter.

Sestak says he wants “to know what he’s running for. If he has the right answer, so be it, we move on.”

Last week Sestak said he would not be swayed by Rendell and others who are clearly in the Specter camp. He pointed out he didn’t ask them when he ran for Congress and defeated Curt Weldon.

That’s not exactly the way I remember it. As I recall, the early candidate the party was behind was Bryan Lentz. Eventually he gave up that bid and instead challenged and beat longtime state Rep. Tom Gannon for the 161st Pa House seat. Haverford Democrat Paul Scoles had already withdrawn and given his support to Sestak. Gov. Ed Rendell asked Lentz to abandon his run against Weldon, clearing the way for the party to unite behind Sestak, who eventually stunned the Delco political world by showing the 10-time incumbent Weldon the door.

Now Rendell may find himself going turning the tables on the former admiral, asking him to withdraw and unite the party behind Specter.

It will be interesting to see how long Sestak makes waves.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home