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A portion of Pat Toomey's early support for U.S. Senate is just a repudiation of incumbent Arlen Specter. A look behind the poll numbers shows Toomey's lead in the general election is soft. For some, a vote for Toomey is a vote against Specter. Take Specter out of the hypothetical matchups, and Toomey's numbers fall in three statewide polls. The most notable dropoff is in a recent Morning Call/Muhlenberg College survey of Pennsylvanian voters. Toomey beats Specter 47 percent to 40 percent, but his numbers drop dramatically (33 percent to 22 percent) when he's pitted against the Democrats' other candidate,...

Vice President Joe Biden urged Pennsylvania Democrats on Friday to return Arlen Specter to the Senate, calling the Republican-turned-Democrat a valuable White House ally on priorities like health care and the economic stimulus. Returning to his native northeastern Pennsylvania for the first time since taking office, Biden lauded Specter's experience and "unflinching support for the workers of Pennsylvania." Specter faces a primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, a retired Navy admiral, who has denounced an ad aired by Specter this week that claimed he was relieved of duty "for creating a poor command climate." Sestak asked Biden to disavow...

A group of Democrats gathered outside the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport Friday but they were not there in support of Senator Arlen Specter and Vice President Joe Biden. They were there in protest. Never, ever should a veteran denigrate the career of another veteran, especially on faceless, anonymous allegations," said Captain Bill Walsh, U.S. Navy retired. About 15 people gathered outside the airport voicing their anger over Biden's support for Senator Arlen Specter. It all stems from a TV ad run by Specter's campaign claiming his rival, Democrat Joe Sestak, has a poor military service record. John Bury spent 22 years...

Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pennsylvania) is facing an unexpectedly tough primary challenge in his newly adopted party's primary this year. Competing with him for the right to face presumptive Republican nominee Pat Toomey in November is US Representative Joe Sestak (D-Pennsylvania), a former three-star Navy admiral who had a stellar 31 year military career before entering politics. So what is Senator Specter's latest campaign strategy against his fellow Democrat? Attack his military record.

Now we know why Arlen Specter supports cap and trade legislationOur vote has been Arlen Specter's to lose ever since we moved to Pennsylvania in 1993. We have since then voted for him three times; once in 1998 and twice in 2004 (against Pat Toomey in the primary, and against Million Mom March poster boy Joe Hoeffel in the November election). We are not happy that Pat Toomey effectively drove him out of the Republican Party and, had he stood with the people of Pennsylvania against ObamaCare and cap and trade, he would have our vote this November. He instead...

Gosh, has it been a year already? Things have seemed a lot more fragrant on the GOP side of the aisle since the principle-free Specter slithered over to the Democrats where he belongs.

The Democratic senator from Pennsylvania speaks like a man who isn't worried about beating Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) in his new-ish party's primary. Colby Itkowitz reports: ''Well, I probably shouldn't say this,'' he said over lunch last month. ''But I have thought from time to time that I might have helped the country more if I'd stayed a Republican.''

Arlen Specter lambasted his critics who said that yet another verbal snafu is a sign of the Senator's increasing senility. Last week, Specter told one group he was proud to have the endorsement of the College Republicans, even though he's running as a Democrat. A really, really senile Democrat. "I want to tell all my detractors that I am not senile," said Specter. "I am a traitor, a Benedict Arnold, a turncoat, a conniving politician. So, get it right." Specter said his misidentification of the endorsement simply reflects his desperate, manipulative attempt to stay in power by any means possible.

If last night's Democratic debate was any indication, Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., plans to win by casting doubt upon his opponent's military career. Specter and Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., met in their only official debate before the May 18 primary election: How Sestak's 31-year Navy career ended has been the central focus of Specter's attack strategy of late, and Specter refused to let it go when the two met face-to-face.

Here is video of a contentious exchange between Sen. Arlen Specter and his Democrat Primary opponent in the Pennsylvania Senate Race - Rep. Joe Sestak. The two appeared in a debate together on May 1, 2010. Specter demands an apology from Sestak for calling him a "liar." Specter said he has stated "facts" about Sestak's military service record when he has pointed out that Sestak was "relieved of duty" for the kind of "climate" he created under his command. Strangely, Sestak appeared to stick to a script in his immediate response to Sestak, and really did not address Specter's demand...

Senator Arlen Specter's (D-Pennsylvania) political career may be over even before the November mid-term elections. The death blow to his almost 30 years in the US Senate could come from a Democratic primary challenger because Senator Specter foolishly decided to make the race for the party's nomination about honor and he may just come up short.

Specter tells WTXF (a Philadelphia FOX affiliate): "We're going to have to bring down the deficit; we're going to have to control the national debt."

As that wise sage Yogi Berra once said, "It's deja vu all over again." In 2004, the last time then Republican Senator Arlen Specter was facing a tough Pennsylvania primary challenge, he received eleventh hour endorsements from top GOP players that saved him from a humiliating primary defeat. He went on to win reelection and then promptly betrayed both the voters and his party by becoming a Democrat. Now, in another tough primary challenge, his new party's establishment is rushing to his aid.

Morning Call Tracking: Sestak 46, Specter 42 (Sestak +4)

"Hey, can I be a Whig now?" Congressman Joe Sestak has moved ahead of incumbent Arlen Specter in their Senate primary match-up with just over a week left before Pennsylvania Democrats go to the polls to pick their nominee. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Democratic Primary voters in the state shows Sestak earning 47% of the vote while Specter picks up 42%. This marks the first time Sestak has held the advantage in the race. Specter’s support has slipped from 48% in March to 44% a month ago to 42% today.

One week before the May 18 primary in Pennsylvania, two new polls show Rep. Joe Sestak opening a lead on Sen. Arlen Specter in their fight for the Democratic Senate nomination. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone poll of likely Democratic primary voters has Mr. Sestak up 47 percent to 42 percent, with 8 percent undecided. Mr. Sestak is holding a similar margin in a Muhlenberg College/Morning Call tracking poll. Is Mr. Specter, 80, about to join Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Utah Sen. Bob Bennett as the latest victim of 2010's backlash against "moderate" candidates? In February, the five-term senator...

I've gotten a couple of e-mails asking for comment on next week's Pennsylvania Senate primary, in which Joe Sestak appears to be surging against Arlen Specter and has overtaken him in new Rasmussen and Muhlenberg polling. This is one of those times where the obvious answer seems to be the right one: the surge is probably real, and Arlen Specter may be in a great deal of trouble.

Congressman Joe Sestak has moved ahead of incumbent Arlen Specter in their Senate primary match-up with just over a week left before Pennsylvania Democrats go to the polls to pick their nominee. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Democratic Primary voters in the state shows Sestak earning 47% of the vote while Specter picks up 42%. This marks the first time Sestak has held the advantage in the race. Specter’s support has slipped from 48% in March to 44% a month ago to 42% today. The numbers for Sestak have been going in the opposite direction from 37%...

t's not a slam-dunk but Pat Toomey is still running strong in his bid to have a real Republican in Arlen Specter's seat for the first time in decades. Likely Republican nominee Pat Toomey still runs strongly against incumbent Senator Arlen Specter, but Pennsylvana’s U.S. Senate contest is a dead heat if his Democratic opponent is Congressman Joe Sestak. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Pennsylvania voters finds Toomey earning 50% support for the second month in a row against Specter, who picks up 38% of the vote. For the incumbent, that’s down slightly from the 40% level...

When a three term incumbent senator of any affiliation is knocked off, a shiver runs through the club. "Am I next?" appears to hang in the air, precariously wafting through the ornate halls. And in a rare moment of candor, I got a glimpse of this. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UT, invited me to join him on the underground subway that connects the outer office buildings to the Capitol, as we chatted. It's about a four minute ride, but boy did I want it to be longer today. Sitting across from us - Sen. Arlen Specter, D-PA, who is in the...