It's Official Now: Pat Toomey vs Arlen Specter

Is this gonna be ugly! Arlen Specter is considered the most vicious campaigner in the Senate-- and Toomey is probably even a worse monster. The Toomster declared that he's running yesterday. He's running on a platform of "What-we-need-is-more-George-Bush" and more failed right-wing ideological approaches to real life problems. Oh, and more tax cuts for the rich and worse tax burdens for the middle class. I'm sure every Democrat in Pennsylvania is hoping Toomey beats Specter because Toomey is absolutely unelectable. As bad as Specter is, Toomey is certainly not taking any high road:

"We can stop the bailouts and the spending stampede; we can reduce the burdens on taxpayers; and we can unlock the ingenuity and job creation potential of our great nation once again. I am running for the U.S. Senate because I believe the economic stakes for our country have never been higher. The people of Pennsylvania deserve the very best from their leaders in Washington-- but that's not what they are receiving... For thirty years Senator Specter has consistently voted for increased government spending and a liberal agenda on social, labor, immigration and national security policies. In recent months, Senator Specter voted in favor of the unprecedented Wall Street and auto company bailouts and the massive 'stimulus' spending bill. Senator Specter is on the wrong side of these critical issues and Pennsylvanians will pay the price."

Toomey nearly beat Specter in 2004. The vote was 530,839 (51%) tto 513,693 (49%). The Pennsylvania Republican Party was much bigger and much more moderate back then. Since then normal voters have fled to the Democratic Party or have re-registered as independents and most people left in the GOP are exactly the kind of Know Nothing and radical right extremist that Toomey appeals to. In that latest Quinnipiac Poll, Toomey is way ahead of Specter among Republicans, 41-27%, although in a general election a dead person with a "D" on his baseball cap would probably beat Toomey... substantially. "Forty-five percent of registered voters said they had a "favorable" opinion of Specter. But among registered Republicans, 47 percent said they had an "unfavorable" opinion of the six-term Senator."

If there is any good news for Specter it's that 78% of Pennsylvania voters and 73% of Republicans say they don't know enough about Toomey to make a judgment about his fitness for office. Specter is, by far, one of the most corrupt members of Congress and has taken in $46,635,198 in contributions since 1990, much of it from special interests who he has repaid many times over by favoring their causes. There is no Republican currently in the Senate (other than former presidential candidate John McCain) who has taken more legalized bribes from the finance/insurance/real estate sector than Specter-- $5,753,310-- and he has been complicit in every deregulatory demand the banksters have made to put themselves in a position to plunder the economy... as they have. I only mention this because Specter will use his tremendous war chest to smear the easily smearable Toomey from Erie to Philly and from Wayne County to Greene County. If Pennsylvania voters think they don't know who The Toomster is now, after Specter is finished defining him, even his own family won't know him. Here's the first questionable ad of the campaign, one Specter spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get out all over the state-- and that was before Toomey even declared!



And who will be the lucky Democrat to get nominated? Blue Dog Patrick Murphy wants to run and so does middle of the road Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz. Joe Sestak, who had earlier said he wasn't going to run against Specter is now reconsidering. In Congress, none of them have been what you would call "progressive"-- unless you lived in Pennsylvania. But at least Schwartz and Sestak have been plausible and rarely vote agaginst the best interests of working families. I'm hearing that Bethlehem mayor John Callahan could jump in as the progressive alternative. Former head of the National Constitution Center and a former deputy mayor of Philadelphia, Joseph Torsella, is the only declared candidate. He lost, barely, to Schwartz in the Democratic primary in 2004. The state's Auditor General, Jack Wagner, has said he isn't running and state Rep. Josh Shapiro would like to-- but not if one of the congressmembers declares, which looks increasingly likely.