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PA-Sen: Sestak Makes it Official; Toomey Pivots

by: James L.

Tue Aug 04, 2009 at 8:18 PM EDT


It was a big day in Pennsylvania, with Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak formally announcing his primary challenge to recent convert Arlen Specter this morning. Sestak faces a major challenge in going up against an incumbent backed by the White House and sitting on big leads in the polls, but he likes it that way:

"I love being the underdog," Sestak said. "A lot of room to grow. Seventy percent of the people don't know me enough to make a decision, and I'm going to give them that opportunity."

In a D-on-D primary like this, with Arlen Specter being forced to smooth out his long list of conservative votes as part of the GOP caucus for decades, hitting back against Sestak isn't an easy thing to do... but Specter's team is making the effort. From the miracle of human and technological evolution that is Twitter:

"His months of indecisiveness on his candidacy raises a real question as to his competency to handle the tough rapid-fire decisions required of a Senator," Specter wrote.

"During his continuing taxpayer-financed self-promotion tour around the State, Sestak should explain why, when Pennsylvanians are working harder, he can barely show up for work."

Sestak will try to make Specter answer for a laundry list of crappy votes (from Iraq to Bush's economic agenda) -- votes that the recent progressive convert will have a hard time justifying, so he'll try to make this primary be a referendum on his seniority, and, I guess, record of "getting things done". Somehow I think Sestak has the saucier narrative.

Meanwhile, a somewhat hilarious sideshow to this Dem fracas is likely GOP nominee Pat Toomey's pivot to the left, most recently witnessed today by his support for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. With no primary competition to force his hand, it looks like Toomey will be attempting to quietly put distance between himself and the insanity of his Club For Growth brand of politics by making a few of these easy concessions to the center. Let's see how far this takes him.

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James L. :: PA-Sen: Sestak Makes it Official; Toomey Pivots
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PA-Sen: Sestak Makes it Official; Toomey Pivots | 32 comments
Toomey moves to the middle?
Wow I hope Pennsylvanian's aren't stupid enough to buy that. I think people will have ample evidence to conclude otherwise considering his past statements concerning Specter's impurity in the GOP fold.

Pull the plug on Paul Broun!
All pols are like this to some degree
This is not Pat Toomey's first turn as a moderate. Once he ran as a pro choice Republican.
[ Parent ]
Dammit I wanted Toomey to behave like Andy Harris
so that he'd drag down other Republicans on the ballot such as Charlie Dent
Toomey Pivots
"Looks like Toomey will be attempting to quietly put distance between himself and the insanity of his Club For Growth brand of politics by making a few of these easy concessions to the center. Let's see how far this takes him."

It will take him as far as the point when people start paying attention to his record, beliefs and Santorumness. I'm guessing sometime about 6-9 months from now or whenever Specter/Sestak is settled.

Toomey
Im not surprised that Toomey is showing hes more of a politician than an ideologue. Remember when Toomey was a pro-choice congressman? Or at least when he initially won his U.S. House seat. Sure, one can argue that its insane to run as a far right Repoublican, in 2004, in a state like PA. But the activist wing of the GOP wouldnt have been fired up about a mainstream conservative Pat Toomey. And so while hed have stood a better chance in the general as a mainstream conservative, that year, he wouldnt have even gotten the opportunity to be in the GE had he not been an activist, far right Republican. And now with his nomination all but sowed up he can triangulate once again.
PA
Sestak acting like a champion of Progressive causes is kind of vomit inducing considering his moderate voting record.
You're so right.
Sestak only voted with the Dems 97% of the time in 2008, and he has now taken a sharp turn to the right, voting with the Dems only 96% of the time in 2009.  We need a real progressive like Arlen Specter.

And the Democrats are going to lose.  All of them.  Always.  Also.  Such as.

[ Parent ]
Best comment I've seen in a bit!!
I mean, Sestak is only ranked 75th by Progressive Punch.  Dude's practically a birther!  He has no business challening a long-time lefty Democrat like Specter.  (Serious sidenote -- I don't have a horse in this race).
[ Parent ]
Isn't it about time for Tekzilla to create a new account?
No one here at Swing State is at all susceptible to his/her silliness, so unless he/she is using his/her time here to entertain us with clownish buffoonery, surely even he/she realizes that he/she has exactly zero efficacy in his attempts to get people to think that the Democratic party is DOOOOOOMED...
[ Parent ]
And also ....
Notice how (s)he has never written a diary, always offers one-sentence "bomb dropping" comments, and almost never sticks around to respond to what others have to say about whataver seat (s)he think we're going to lose next.
[ Parent ]
Time for a drinking game
Every time Tek says something either unproductive or pessimistic, someone should down a shot or have a glass of beer.

Either that, or we should start taking bets. Whoever guesses the correct moment of a Tek post should get some free babka.

[ Parent ]
Turn that into a drinking game and we'd all be hammered by noon!

[ Parent ]
That's why
I also suggested the babka bet. :)

Plus, it goes with our site's reputation for being babka-powered.

Though, it would be hilarious to see what would happen if SSPers posted while hammered. Either that, or unintelligible.

[ Parent ]
I'm sure, at some point during this site's history...
that I have drunk-blogged at least once.
[ Parent ]
Sestak Isn't All-Out Progressive
But he's pretty damn good. 100% from LCV, NARAL, and the Brady Campaign, endorsed by the Sierra Club, condemned by the NRA. He was a co-sponsor of EFCA, so that alone is an improvement over Snarlin' Arlen. Then, of course, he's right on DADT and wants to do something about it. I think a former admiral who wants to get rid of DADT AND gets a media platform from beating an entrenched incumbent could really shake things up on the issue. That alone gets me excited for Sestak, though I'll live with Arlen.
[ Parent ]
PA
Sorry I'm not wholy optimistic like you guys are.

I don't care for Sestak that much and I think this primary is going to take a lot of money away from other races we need to focus on like NH, OH and KY.  I would rather stay on offense during a potentially down year then have to worry about this race.

You are pessimistic
I'm a Conservative and I see a problem here. I seriously doubt the national party will invest too much in the primary. Their focus is the general election. In KY, Jack Conway probably won't use too much in national funds, because of his fundriaisng abilities, and Trey Grayson isn't much of a fundraisier, so that shouldn't be too hard for Conway to do without much national help.  
[ Parent ]
I can totally see that point, but ...
... it's a totally different point from the one you made earlier, when you called Sestak's record moderate to the point of making you want to vomit.

I don't love Sestak, and I don't hate Specter -- and I think it's a totally legitimate argument to make to let Specter be our candidate, and spend time/resources on winning seats like the ones you mention.  But to attack Sestak like that just isn't backed up by his record.

And it would be nice if you actually, you know, said something nice or optimistic about a Democrat every now and then.

[ Parent ]
me or tek?

[ Parent ]
Clearly Tek
We don't expect you to say anything nice about Democrats.  You are GOPVOTER for God's sake.
[ Parent ]
Just making sure

[ Parent ]
Not you at all ...
Although I suspect that you and I would agree on very little, I actually like having you and the few others who occasionally post (Kyle and INRepublican come to mind, there may be someone I'm forgetting) to give us a perspective from "the other side."  I think that this site focusing on the nuts-and-bolts of electoral politics keeps a lot of potential nastiness to a minimum!
[ Parent ]
Agreed
Particularly as those posters are polite and also realistic. I have recently tried posting on more balanced sites but it seems most of the conservatives I come across are too blinded by their ideology to be able to have an electoral based argument with them. Frankly, this is the same reason I prefer SSP to any other site on our side too.
[ Parent ]
I like SSP
I love it here! You people are some of the most civilized, friendly liberals I have ever met. Most Liberals hate me. The elections coverage is what I like best. Thats what first attracted me to SSP
[ Parent ]
I think many of us would say ...
... that most conservatives hate us.  I think it's an unfortunate biproduct of how nasty our politics have gotten, and that's too bad.  As someone who has been here a long time,I can say just continue to be respectful and "not stupid" (advice that goes for liberals who want to post here, too!) and you'll get along just fine.

And believe it or not, I even have conservative friends and family members!  My brother in Minnesota is a rock-ribbed Republican (although even he things Michelle Bachmann is nuts -- but lives in John Kline's district and strongly supports him).  Every time I visit him we swear not to talk about politics, but then we have a few drinks and it all comes out!  The fun part is his wife/my sister-in-law is almost as solid a Democrat as I and the rest of our family is!

[ Parent ]
Even I
as a liberal find that a lot of liberals on other political forums go off the deep end a lot like a lot of conservative posters there do. That, plus this site being more focused on the geeky, elections side of politics, is why I as a proud geek enjoy this site a lot.

Check out the 2010 California races (http://2010californiaracetracker.wetpaint.com) and help us take back Red California! (http://www.takebackredcalifornia.org)
[ Parent ]
Yup
Both sides do it. And on those previous posts i didnt mean to single out liberals, i certainly wasnt. conservative bloggers are just as bad. And I have a feeling libertarian ones are too, LOL.

But there is one liberal-leaning blog i think is generally civil and thats Politics1. Maybe thats because their blogs are almost like chat rooms so its easier to have casual conversations. and when you have those you realize that, 'hey, those bloggers on the other side aint so bad after all'.  

[ Parent ]
One last thing
Its great how on SSP you can have little casual convos but still have alot of civility. Its great.
[ Parent ]
Im sure most liberals dont hate you
Even the liberal bloggers. They just get very worked up when theyre blogging. I think even most of them would treat you well in person. As i am sure they have conservative family and friends they treat well. and likewise with most conservative bloggers to liberals. People just get so worked up when theyre blogging. But i doubt they act anything like that in person. If they do then they have some serious issues.
[ Parent ]
SSP
One of the reasons I love SSP is the civility here. On alot of other major political blogs, both left and right, you are shouted down and personally attacked and made to feel unwelcome just for merely being 'on the other side' (a conservative or Republican on a liberal blog, liberal or Democrat on a conservative blog). The regular bloggers there will say, 'well if you back up your words with facts we wont attack you'...well they do but still get attacked. They are called 'stupid', 'crazy', and those are just the best names. And you know what the ironic thing is? I bet most of those average bloggers have family and friends who are 'on the other side' and treat them just fine. And not even attack them being their back (other than making jokes about them). But when they are on 'their' blog they feel as if theyre in some kind of war. But nevertheless i am addicted even to those blogs, LOL. Actually just one in particular which shall remain nameless. And that blog is officially probably not even left wing...but the bloggers themselves are probably 90% liberal (and another thing, if youre against an Obama policy then automatically they will call you a Republican. Or come back with 'well Bush was worse' Ditto the right-leaning blogs but to those voters on the other side). But I am glad I dont see such hatred on this site. It is a breath of fresh air.
[ Parent ]
I agree
GOPVOTER, you are a consistently constructive presence here. I appreciate your contributions and also the fact that you get a friendly reception here. My politics are basically Social Democratic, which passes for the far left wing of the Democratic Party in the U.S. (Bernie Sanders, Paul Wellstone, Jerrold Nadler, etc.), but I have a sense of fairness and independent judgment. I don't like it when anyone on other sites seems to be telling me to accept a whole propaganda program, assuming that everyone who doesn't parrot their viewpoints is automatically an enemy, or name-calling, and I'm glad these things rarely happen here.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
VoteVets
has endorsed Sestak over Specter.

How much do you think this will help/hurt each candidate?

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  

PA-Sen: Sestak Makes it Official; Toomey Pivots | 32 comments

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