Pat Toomey was in Delaware County yesterday to meet the county GOP brass and press the flesh at an event last night.

No doubt there were smiles all around. That’s because Republicans here and across the country were beaming in the afterglow of what happened on Tuesday in Massachusetts.

Before his meeting with local Republicans, Toomey sat down with the Daily Times Editorial Board.

The first thing I asked him was to “read the tea leaves” of what happened in New England. He did not mince words.

Toomey is looking to do the same thing Scott Brown did in Massachusetts.
Brown stunned the political world by capturing the Senate seat held for 47years by Ted Kenendy. A Republican, Toomey will likely be the party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate. He will face off in November with the winner of the Arlen Specter-Joe Sestak battle royal for the Democratic nomination.

Toomey said voters in Massachusetts sent a message to the nation’s capital that will ring across the country, a warning that the Democratic Party has been hijacked by the most extreme ideologues within the party running and agenda that does not represent the wishes of the majority of the country. He believes that message was delivered loud and clear, a vote against outrageous spending, trillion-dollar deficits and bailing out failing banks and businesses.

Instead, Toomey is calling for Washington to recalibrate, re-focus on jobs and strengthening our economy.

He’d start with health care, by pulling the plug on the plan now being pushed by Democrats.

Toomey is the first to admit that many of the economic problems that drove the economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression were rooted in the previous Bush Administation. He chides the former president for failing to take advantage of a mandate and Republican Congress, and for abandoning fiscal restraint and disciplined spending.
And he points out that Obama is in the process of making the same mistakes.

Toomey is of the belief that you can’t spend your way out of a recession, and warns that the “bubble” that torpedoed the economy in the housing and mortgage industry could well be repeated if spending is not controlled. That’s one reason he believes jobs have yet to show real indications of a turnaround.

Toomey has been down this road before. He narrowly lost a GOP primary to Specter in 2004.

I asked him if he’s the same candidate, one who critics said was too far to the right to win a statewide race. He disputed that belief, and said he’s ready to do what he did three times as a Congressman, win in a Democratic district.

Toomey especially warmed to the task in talking about his old foe, the newly minted Democratic Sen. Specter.

Toomey harpooned the longtime senator for losing any shred of credibility with his recent party switch meant only to salvage his own political neck.

And he has a warning for all those Democratic leaders who were quick to jump on the Specter bandwagon. He would not be surprised in the least should Sestak pull the upset.

Of course, that might be wishful thinking on his part, seeing himself as much more of a middle-of-the-road candidate than the “extremely” liberal Sestak.

One thing is sure. Toomey is ready for the race.

And he will prove a formidable candidate regardless of who the Democrats rally behind.