Specter edges Toomey in tight Senate battle

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 4/28/04 | Carrie Budoff, Thomas Fitzgerald and Patrick Kerkstra

[randita]

Toomey almost pulled it off. Hope Bush has a position of some kind available for him in his administration. He's a staunch and loyal conservative.

[Bahbah]

Oh, rats. I had to stop following the thread pretty early yesterday so I went to sleep still hoping. Well, at least Senator Scottish Law got a good scare. There's some pleasure in that.

[BibChr]

OK, great; so I'm starting off the day with language I have to repent of. )c8<

I'm disappointed in PA voters. Not a new experience, of course; I do live in CA, after all. They sometimes get it right, but oh boy, when they get it WRONG... Boxer... Feinstein... Clinton... Gore.... Ay yi yi.

Very, very disappointing. I went to bed with 50/50, Toomey gaining. VERY disappointing. Blast. And other words.

Dan

[BibChr]

I'll add this.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" to all the explanations about why Bush and Santorum "had to" do all that campaigning for Specter.

And now we're seeing that, had they AT LEAST just shut up and stayed out, we'd finally see payback for Specter's anti-Constitutional, mean, stupid follies. Bork, Clinton, abortion, tax cuts....

Grr, must not get started again. GRR.

Dan

[eeriegeno]

The spread was about 16000 votes in this victory for Specter. What I would like to see is the statistics for 'party switches' that allowed democrats to vote in the republican primary.

Union urges Democrats to switch parties AP | 3/24/04 | LARA JAKES JORDAN Posted on 03/24/2004 11:52:27 AM PST by kattracks WASHINGTON (AP) — An international labor union is urging its Democratic members in Pennsylvania to switch their voter registration to Republican to vote for Sen. Arlen Specter in his tough primary fight against conservative Rep. Pat Toomey. The registration push comes as national groups scramble to sign up voters for November's presidential race in Pennsylvania, a battleground state and the nation's fifth-largest electoral prize. Voters who don't switch back risk falling through the cracks during Democratic get-out-the-vote drives and other outreach efforts. Specter, a political moderate who generally supports labor issues, is the only sitting senator in the nation to face a primary. He "needs as much support in the April 27 primary as possible," wrote Robert A. Scardelletti, president of the Transportation Communications International Union in a March 15 letter to Pennsylvania members. "Enclosed is a voter registration card that you can use to register to vote in the Republican primary if you so choose," Scardelletti wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. "I realize that this is a somewhat unusual request, but I can assure you that it is vitally important. While labor unions generally support Democrats, Scardelletti's letter was accompanied by instructions from the Specter campaign on how to register to vote. Scardelletti did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 445,000 voters in Pennsylvania. The state's primary voter registration deadline is March 29.

[2banana]

Now Specter will run to the left for the general election. Way left. And stay there. Thank you very much President Bush and Senator Santorum for your endorsements of Specter. You will get what you deserve...

[greasepaint]

The stupid party (Republican) faces a choice.
Let in moderates, or be irrelevant.

[Doug Loss]

OK, this will be devisive I think. I won't be able to vote for Specter in November. I won't vote for Hoeffel either, of course; I'll either not vote in that race or write Toomey in. At this point I'd rather have a rookie Democrat Senator than have Arlen in charge of the Judiciary Committee (assuming the Republicans can maintain control of the Senate). All you PA voters, how do you plan to vote in November?

[4CJ]

The active support from Bush and Santorum may have saved Specter

Supporting a pro-abortion candidate. Specter is as a d**m DIM. That's what's wrong with the Republican party - elect anyone with the "R" beside the name, no matter what their platform.

[Dales]

If I think we hold the Senate anyway, I am probably going to vote for Hoeffel, unless it is announced beforehand that Specter will NOT be given the Judiciary chair (in which case I'll either vote for him or abstain).

[Gritty]

As this will now probably be Specter's final term, we can expect him to vote with the Dims most of the time as that is where his heart really is. He no longer needs to cover his base for the next election.

Welcome to Jim Jeffords II!

[Tallguy]

All you PA voters, how do you plan to vote in November?

I voted for Toomey in the primary, and I'm dissapointed that he didn't pull it out. But my thinking right now is that come November I'll be voting for Specter on the theory that "he owes GWB, Big Time." Of course, Specter has a way of reneging on such deals, and this is probably his last term, so what is the downside in going against GWB? Oooops! Think I just talked myself out of a Specter-vote.

[Panzerfaust]

All you PA voters, how do you plan to vote in November?

I'll vote "Not Proven". Seriously, I can only hope the close margin will make Arlen more beholden to Santorum and Bush.

[Dane]

If I think we hold the Senate anyway, I am probably going to vote for Hoeffel, unless it is announced beforehand that Specter will NOT be given the Judiciary chair (in which case I'll either vote for him or abstain)

Well then you would be going against the candidate you voted for, Toomey.

...in his concession speech, Mr. Toomey said that differences between him and the Senator were not nearly as great as differences with Democrats...

LINK

[PA BOOKEND]

I may have mentioned this before, but at the risk of repeating myself, I will NEVER vote for Specter again. Like you, I will probably sit out that contest, hope Specter loses and that Kyl (?) gets the chairmanship of the Judiciary committee. Imagine what could have been if Toomey had had the backing of the GOP machine (such as it is). . .

[Russ]

No, we can thank the thousands of conservative Republicans who were too damn lazy and preoccupied with God knows what to take a few minutes out of their meaningless lives to vote. For conservatives to blame Bush or Santorum for losing is to deny reality. Did they make the 60% of Republicans who didn't vote stay away? If their endorsement of Specter caused any conservative to change from Toomey to Specter then those people weren't conservative to begin with. I blame the schlubs who stayed home yesterday and turned their backs on Toomey.

[wingster]

Specter edges Toomey in tight Senate battle

Cadavers push Specter over top in tight race!

[JimRed]

Cadavers push Specter over top in tight race!

Are you saying that our guys (Republicans) cheat TOO? And here I thought that only the RATS did it!

Seriously, if it can be proven, we need to see those responsible get jail time, regardless of party.

[ContemptofCourt]

I'm disappointed in PA voters.

You should be disappointed in Bush, Cheney and Santorum. Get a grip.