By moving towards the center of the political ideological spectrum, and away from the outer fringe.
How one characterizes an individual is up to one's own perception of that individual, "nebbish" is how I perceived Toomey from the few times I saw him, and "nebbish" was the description used by some others who followed the election closely.
You can't "refute" my impression of an individual by offering yours, and sorry joannie, Toomey is no Reagan.
And yes, you don't pull the Specter lever not only have you abandoned the GOP, but you have critically damaged Toomey's chances in the next election, as you will be forcing him to defeat an incumbent Democrat.
IF you are a Republican, then you close ranks after the primaries and vote to defeat the Democrats.
Specter only votes with the GOP 40% of the time?
What percentage of the time will his Democratic replacement vote with the GOP?
Hmmm ... if you move the designated center of a circle further to the left, you aren’t fooling those who are well-versed in geometry.
What you describe as ‘the outer fringe’ used to be the center of the GOP. Those of us who occupy ‘the outer fringe’ believe in standing firm, no matter how others choose to re-define the terrain.
~ joanie