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Sen. Arlen Specter urged “mainstream Americans” to turn out in droves to prevent a total rejection of moderate challengers and incumbents. “Mainstream Americans must march to the polls this November to express themselves forcefully to stop extremists financed by undisclosed contributors from stifling our democracy,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said in a floor statement Tuesday morning. Specter, who left the GOP for the Democratic Party last year after determining he could not win the Republican primary in his state, noted this year’s primary process has been particularly devastating to moderates. Specter, a moderate, is one of three incumbent Senators to lose...

WASHINGTON -- The backing of the White House, promised after his party switch, has aided Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's re-election campaign in several ways. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden have both made fundraising appearances in Pennsylvania for Mr. Specter, and the campaign has at its disposal the legions of Organizing for America, the grass-roots arm of the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Specter also has been able to parade Cabinet secretaries around the state. In recent months, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan both have examined their operations and met...

When Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter switched parties two months ago, he said he would issue contribution refunds "upon request." Now the Club for Growth, the conservative political group that is a longtime Specter foe, wants to help any disgruntled Republican donors take now-Democrat Specter up on his offer. The Club is asking the Federal Election Commission (FEC) if it can send a letter or make a telephone call to Specter's donors informing them that they can ask his campaign for a contribution refund. The Club would use the donor lists that Specter's campaign has filed with the FEC. Those documents...

Sen. Arlen Specter continues to pick up support from Democratic party leaders across Pennsylvania. However, a new poll indicates that the five-term incumbent has not convinced a majority of Pennsylvania voters that he should be re-elected. According to a new Franklin & Marshall poll released Thursday, only 28 percent of registered voters in Pennsylvania think Specter should be re-elected. That number is down from 40 percent in March, a month before Specter's "conversion" to the Democratic Party. Back then, roughly half the voters in each party said that Specter was doing an excellent or good job in the Senate. The...

(CNN) - Meghan McCain- who has been known for her outspoken criticisms of the Republican Party, "did not soften her voice Tuesday calling Sen. Arlen Specters party switch a "selfish choice." Recognizing that it had been a hard day for the Republican Party, McCain offered some encouraging words " I am still a believer in this party! I have faith we can bring this back, who is with me?!?" she tweeted. Sen. Arlen Specter might have left the GOP, but Meghan McCain isn't going anywhere. "In my Republican Party there is room for everyone! There is no need for an...

Specter says that President Obama, his old friend Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have all agreed to campaign and raise cash for him -- and that he will welcome the fundraising help of Penn. Gov. Ed Rendell, another old friend. An unspecified group of national leaders will huddle together tomorrow to discuss those plans, he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Wednesday hailed Arlen Specter's conversion to the Democratic Party, while Specter vowed that he'll be an asset as Obama tries to get his ambitious agenda through Congress. Obama said, "I am grateful that he is here." Specter was joined by Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House Wednesday morning. Specter noted that he and longtime friend Biden "have talked over every problem under the sun and the moon." With a beaming Obama standing at his side, Specter said: "I think that I can be of assistance to you, Mr. President....

Washington.IT is disheartening and disconcerting, at the very least, that here we are today — almost exactly eight years after Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party — witnessing the departure of my good friend and fellow moderate Republican, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, for the Democratic Party. And the announcement of his switch was all the more painful because I believe it didn’t have to be this way. When Senator Jeffords became an independent in 2001, I said it was a sad day for the Republicans, but it would be even sadder if we failed to confront and learn...

79 year old five term Pennsylvania traitor Arlen Specter is the first casualty of the 2010 house cleaning. Never in US history, has the anti-incumbent sentiment been so broad and deep among frustrated American patriots who still believe in Life, Liberty and the Right to individually define and pursue Happiness. Ninety-nine days of the second most unpopular administration in US history, was all the people were willing to endure. The clarion call for real patriotic "change" has come from Main Street America, and the Tax Day Tea Parties have forced the first faux Republican out of their party. After years...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Arlen Specter's abrupt move to switch allegiance to President Barack Obama's Democratic Party was a sharp blow to Republicans and will likely generate more soul-searching for the minority party. His decision to seek re-election as a Democrat next year was a nakedly political move to hang on to power.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Olympia Snowe — one of the three moderate Republicans including Arlen Specter who supported President Obama's stimulus package — told CNN Tuesday that she has also been approached many times about becoming a Democrat, but that it hasn't happened for a while. "I've been asked, but not recently," she said. Snowe said the Republican Party never learned its lesson from the "painful" party switch of Sen. Jim Jeffords in 2001.

"Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not," he said in a statement. "Let's be honest-Senator Specter didn't leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. "Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first."

In a sign of voter discontent within Pennsylvania's Republican Party, a poll released today shows 30-year incumbent U.S. Senato r Arlen Specter trailing one of his primary challengers by 21 points. The senate primary election will be held in May, 2010. The Rasmussen Reports survey found that former Congressman Pat Toomey would win 51% of the GOP vote, while Mr. Specter garnered only 30%. Mr. Toomey's favorable ratings are 66% to Specter's 42%. The rivals' negatives are 19% and 55%, respectively. In 2004, Mr. Toomey almost knocked off the powerful incumbent, losing by just two points. A critical factor in...

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) visited Drexel April 13 for a town hall meeting discussing a "Just and Clean Energy Future". The main goals as highlighted by the presentation were for 100 percent renewable energy, tax on carbon and the presence of green jobs, according to Nathan Taylor, a junior mechanical engineering and the event's organizer. Students were the main target of the town hall, according to Taylor. "We're trying to make a point that students matter, seeing that Specter is up for re-election, he should listen to the students," Taylor said. Specter said his main platform in running for re-election...

(CNN) — It's official. Former Rep. Pat Toomey is challenging Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter for his Senate seat, again. Toomey formally announced his 2010 Senate bid Wednesday, the second time he will challenge the incumbent Pennsylvania senator after running an unsuccessful primary campaign against him in 2004. "I'm running against Arlen Specter in the Republican primary because we need a new direction and positive solutions," Toomey says on his campaign website, ToomeyForSenate.com.

Conservative Pat Toomey, a former Lehigh Valley congressman, this morning announced he is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in the 2010 election in a videotaped message on his new campaign website, saying the nation is at a "crossroads" between a greatly expanding federal government and the direction of more economic freedom. The move sets up a much-anticipated rematch with moderate Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) who earned a fifth term in 2004 after defeating a challenge from Toomey by about 17,000 votes out of more than 1 million cast. Their race will feature a key debate among...

Because of the concentrated efforts of millions of Republicans all over America, Susan Collins (Maine) was reelected to the Senate, surviving a challenge once thought to be serious. She won, in large part, because she was able to drown her Democratic adversary in a sea of campaign spending made possible by donations from Republicans throughout the nation. As a result of their efforts, the GOP preserved its 40th vote in the Senate. And when Saxby Chambliss was forced into a runoff in the Georgia Senate race, Republicans from all over the United States poured out their hearts and their funds...

Sen. John Cornyn says Republican Sen. Arlen Specter is the GOP’s “best bet” to keep his Pennsylvania Senate seat from falling into Democrats’ hands. “As I survey the political landscape of the upcoming 2010 elections,” Cornyn wrote in a letter released by his office Tuesday, “it's clear we need more candidates that fit their states. While I doubt Arlen could win an election in my home state of Texas, I am certain that I could not get elected in Pennsylvania. I believe that Senator Specter is our best bet to keep this Senate seat in the GOP column. A vote...

Just spoke with someone in one of Senator Specter's PA offices. I told him what an outrage it is that this is being rushed through, and why not let it wait a week so the American people can see what's in it. He kept directing me "to the website". I asked him if Specter is planning on running in two years and he said yes. I then told him that he'll get one less vote this time around and that my vote will be going to a conservative like Pat Toomey in the primary. Finally I said Specter is going...