Dem leader says Sestak should pull a Gerlach

[ccharles000]

A funny thing happened on the way to interpreting results of the new Rasmussen poll that has Democratic Senator Arlen Specter trailing Republican Pat Toomey, 49-40 percent: Pennsylvania Democratic Party chairman T.J. Rooney made case for Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7) to drop out of the Democratic primary against Specter.

Rooney talked what a “good Democrat” is and said it would be “travesty to lose Sestak in Congress. This doesn’t seem to be the right time to do this. A lot of folks are wishing, hoping he would take a look at this.

“Arlen Specter is a good Democrat,” Rooney said. “Joe Sestak is a good Democrat—a great Democratic member of Congress. There’s a lot to respect about Joe’s beliefs, but it’s shame to have to spend precious resources we could be using in other directions. It would have been unfair six months ago to say this. That was the time to go out and test the water. But we are coming up against it. Will he defeat Arlen Specter in a primary? There’s no substantial movement in that direction.”

http://www.pa2010.com/2010/01/dem-leader-says-sestak-should-pull-a-gerlach/

[enough]

1. Well here's one very old PA Democrat who won't be voting for that "good Democrat,"

Arlen Specter. How can anyone say that with a straight face?

[secondwind]

2. PLEASE, make sure a Dem wins in PA!!!

[AlinPA]

4. We won't be able to honor your request if Specter runs. nt

[mgcgulfcoast]

7. i agree

i think spectre will go down to defeat. i support sestak.

[Larkspur]

3. In CT, we DTC members told Sen. Dodd's re-election campaign that we would not support him

and to do the party and the nation a favor by dropping out of the race and asking Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to run for his seat.

We said that the end of Nov. 2009 and a couple weeks ago, Dodd dropped out of the race.

Looks to me that Specter is in the same position as Sen. Dodd. Specter should do the Dem Party and the nation a favor by dropping his bid for re-election and let Sestak run for his seat.

[chimpymustgo]

9. +1.

[dugaresa]

12. Specter is a self centered jerk attention whore, he won't pull out of the race

and Toomey could get elected in PA and with no holds on corporate donations, he is going to be well funded.

[ShadowLiberal]

5. As a PAer I'm still skeptical that Toomey can win, though in this environment he can come close

I'm still skeptical that a radical conservative like Toomey can beat either Specter or Sestak once they actually run a campaign and raise their name recognition, and once the voters realize just how radical Toomey really is. But given the worsening environment for us I can see him coming close. Worst yet for Toomey is that Specter and Sestak aren't exactly radical liberals if you look at their records (Sestak is actually a magnitude more conservative then you'd expect a district like his to produce from a democrat in congress), so he can't easily paint them as such.

If one of them will lose to Toomey though, then it's definitely Specter, his 'deserve to be reelected' numbers have been on life support for a while, while Sestak is a virtual unknown outside of the Philadelphia area. That's probably part of why Sestak's numbers have been relatively stable.

[Cosmocat]

6. I love Sestak ...

and am supporting him ...

But, as someone else noted, it is Specter taking the air out of Sestak, not Sestak taking the air out of Spector, and Specter is going NO WHERE ...

Party friggen politics ...

I was NEVER going to support Specter, before and after he jumped ship, but I saw the top dogs in my country party getting the warm and fuzzy's over Specter when he jumped and I knew he was the guy ... He would not have done it without getting the nod from up top first ...

Sestak (though not a dynamic candidate by any means) is the EPITOME of what we want in our high level D candidate, but the party is behind Specter here ...

The numbers have been bad all along, and the atmosphere is such that I get a bad feeling that Toomey is going to win this - he is a nutbag and all, but Santorum who was just as bad if not worse got elected when he wasn't even friggen living in the god darned state ...

[Imajika]

8. This is so bad because Specter will never bow out...

Specter is so horrible it is beyond words.

He is not a real democrat. The guy would switch back to GOP in a heartbeat if he thought he had to in order to prolong his political viability.

So the Democrats get behind him and can't go back on all the promises they made to Specter in order to persuade him to make the switch. It is clear he is going to lose to Toomey in this environment. Everyone knows it. A loyal Dem would drop out and let Sestak run knowing someone else has the best chance to hold the Senate seat for the party (much like Dodd just did), but Specter won't do that and the party is kinda screwed because of past pledges of support made. Additionally, if the party even wavers on that support, Specter can go out making as much noise as possible by being troublemaker in the Senate for Reid and the President.

This is looking like it could be a lost seat, all to get Specter who, while supporting us right now on most issues, is not a real Democrat and will betray us the moment he can. We may pay a huge price for dealing with the devil here.

[daviddiano]

10. Sestak took his own air out

Cosmocat-
Sestak was positioned to take on Specter. But, Sestak dragged out his "decision" for months. All the while he made his campaign about attacking Specter, rather than for what Joe Sestak stood. He predicted Specter would go against Obama and the Dems. Specter "thwarted" Joe, by being a better advocate than Sestak for healthcare, leaving Joe with egg on his face. Specter's Dem favorability has gone up during his probation period. Specter CAN'T go back to the GOP, so he's with us now, come hell or high water.

But, what really has done Joe in is his amateur campaigning. He relies on one gimmick after another. 67-county tour (in 21 days, so he didn't really get to spend any quality time). Now he has his "Kitchen calls". He did one for two dozen Westmoreland Dems at a coffee shop, and then didn't even spring for the coffee. If he had a campaign manager, that never would have happened.

Joe's got no campaign manager, even though he's planning to go up against the most experience statewide candidate in Pennsylvania.

Amateurs (Joe) do tactics. Experts (Arlen) do logistics.

Joe is simply in no position to take on Toomey. In their Allentown "debate", Toomey crushed Sestak, even though was correct on the facts. It didn't matter because he delivered his points badly and Toomey outmaneuvered him.

Joe has been the best weapon in Toomey's arsenal. If you think that the Toomey and the Republicans aren't trying to artificially prop up Sestak, then explain why Richard Mellon Scaife gave Joe Sestak a $4,800 (max) contribution in June 2009.

Just this week, Sestak went after Specter for standing up to that crazy loon, Michelle Bachmann. She's like Sarah Palin, without the brains. Joe sounds like he's interviewing for a commentator job on FoxNews.

[Cosmocat]

11. I don't disagree ...

I have seen/met him briefly and I get the points you are making about Sestak and his campaign ...

But, he is flying solo because Rendell/the party locked him out from day one, that is why he drug it out so long ...

I noted he is not a fantastic campaigner, but if he had the state party behind him, a lot of the things you are noting would not be occuring ... It would be more about the quality of the candidate, which is his strength as opposed to having to grass roots his way to a primary upset ...

Scaife is supporting Sestak for the same reason that Hillary was the anti-christ for 16 years, then suddenly ended up being a Faux News darling right about February of 2008 ... They will throw in on the underdog any time that underdog can pose problems for front runner in the dem primary ...

I get the "pragmatic" thinking behind the party getting behind Specter ... Better chance of having Specter hold his seat than Sestak taking the spot from a guy like Toomey who has been been positioning himself for the run for years, in an election cycle right after a big presidential ...

I would have liked to have seen the party get behind Sestak, who again, as a person and as a lawmaker has so much quality to him ...

I won't support Specter out of principle ... I was going to work hard for whatever D was running against him a year ago, just because the douchebag is being a smarmy pol and is manuevering to keep his job by flipping to D doesn't change my thoughts on him ...

I do believe that once it breaks to the two of them, I will find it in me to vote for the jaggoff because Toomey is Santorum part II ...

[Unvanguard]

13. The district is actually pretty Republican. Sestak beat a five-term incumbent.

He's about where he should be ideologically, and where he needs to be to win in a state like PA while still being useful to the Democrats in Congress.

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. Back in 1994 people thought that Santorum was too much of a radical conservative

[invictus]

14. GO JOE SESTAK - SENATE - 2010

[old mark]

15. Sestak told a Philly radio audience 2 weeks ago that he would be

a "moderate" Democrat because his district is over 55% republican.
Specter will probably find a way to run even after he dies, and will not bow out, plus he has the support and financing of the PA Democratic political machine, including Ed Rendell, and of President Obama who told Specter the WH would support him in this campaign if he became a Democrat.

Toomey is borderline insane, believes that McCain and Huckabee are Liberals, and is evidently well spoken and a good campaigner who has been in effect running for years.

As much as I can't abide Ed Rendell's democratic machine or Arlen Specter, if he wins the primary he will get my vote.


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