You sound like somebody that would have been opposed to nominating Reagan as the Republican candidate in 1976 and 1980.
Ronald Reagan believed in the big tent party...it is his quote I’m mangling...better to have someone who votes with you 75% of the time than 0% of the time...he would not support losing elections on purpose by fielding unelectable candidates.
What Specter means when he says Toomey can’t win is that the Republican Party in Pa., especially the country club Republicans, will not throw their support to Toomey and will pretty much sit out the election. Santorum was a unique case and one can go back as far as Hugh Scott (and even before him) to see that Pa. has never elected a conservative senator. At least since the 1920s.