Posted on 04/24/2009 10:06:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter badly trails primary challenger Patrick J. Toomey, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll 13 months before GOP voters will choose their Senate nominee.
The survey, taken of 490 likely Republican voters on April 21, had Toomey leading Specter by 21 percentage points, 51 percent to 30 percent. Forty-two percent of respondents said that they had either a "very favorable" or "somewhat favorable" impression of Specter, compared to 55 percent of Republicans who said they had "somewhat unfavorable" or "very unfavorable" feelings about the senator.
The comparable numbers for Toomey, a former House member from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, were 66 percent favorable and 19 percent unfavorable.
The 2010 primary, which will be held in May of that year, is a rematch of a 2004 primary that Specter won by 51 percent to 49 percent. Toomey, the former president of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, has sharply criticized Specter for supporting some of President Obama's economic policies.
The only Democrat thus far who has declared a Senate campaign is Joe Torsella, who headed the National Constitution Center on Philadelphia's Independence Mall and who lost a 2004 Democratic House primary to current 13th District Democratic Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz.
CQ Politics presently rates the Pennsylvania Senate race as No Clear Favorite.
Yes, PA has proper, closed primaries. You must change your registration beforehand if you wish to vote in a party’s primary.
Right now, I'd have to say that he is the logical counter to Tom Corbet who, as you know, also hails from this end of the state.
The fools in Philadelphia will vote for anyone with a "D" after their name, even if they don't know them. The same cannot be said about the jackasses on this side of the state.
Maybe Specter will see the writing on the wall before it comes time for the primary, and will announce his intention NOT to run for re-election. Heck, he's already 70, and he won't be hurting for money, considering the retirement plan those guys have voted for themselves. If he doesn't want to give up that power trip, he can always work as a lobbyist
Well I’m sure ACORN will soon have a mobile station where they can drive around with laptops and printers addressing all the actual physical labor required to participate in the democratic process for those who do nothing but sit and milk the system.
PA is a closed primary.
Here’s the deal with Spectre, he’s ticked off too much of the party base to win a primary, the ONLY reason he held on last time during the primary was because the balance of power in the Senate was very much at stake.
Primary republican voters are generally the more conservative, many did hold their noses and vote for Spectre last time because the balance of power in the Senate was indeed at risk, and even with that, Spectre barely squeaked by. This time, no such holding of noses will take place, the balance of power is not at stake, the actions of Spectre since that day have been perpetually alienating even moreso the conservative voters. Porkulus was THE last straw for Spectre in terms of winning a primary as a republican in PA.
Now, again, this does not mean that he won’t wind up as an Indy in the general and winning the election, if he’s obvious to lose the primary, I fully believe he’ll pull out and go onto the ballot in the general as an Indy. However I just don’t see any way he can win the republican primary this time.
I don’t think Grassley is all that loyal to conservatives either but prides himself on “moderation”.
And you are right about how people love to rewrite Reagan as a kindly grandfather only. Sort of a civilian Eisenhower. Bull crap. He knew how to rally the anger and hatred we all had for the peace-nicks and welfare queens. That's why he won, for Pete's sake.
And about optimism. Like you, I've been here a long time and have seen this site grow and prosper. Along with the rise of FOX news, Rush, Beck, etc., and the death of the MSM, we own the conversation. And as the coming crash will be blamed on BO and his band of socialists, we will own the solution. Because our solution is the only one that can possibly work.....What's not to feel optimistic about??
I'm an old movie buff and just watched Knute Rockne....and what Pat O'Brien said to the team I think we need to remember and say to our fellow conservatives every day...."They can't lick us" !!
I didn’t know about the Sore Loser law, and I live here. Oh, well, that’s good news. I still don’t think he’s just going allow himself to be defeated by people he hates... that’s us, I mean.
Rendell has told him he’ll clear the decks of all other Democratic challengers if he switches sides. I could see him switching, especially if he continues to trail by 10-20 points. GOP endorsements from Steele, Cornyn, etc. won’t help him. The GOP brand is very unpopular these days. Toomey would be better served to run against both parties.
Throw the RINOs out - throw the Ds out. Use a 3rd parties as necessary.
“It is not enough to eliminate rinos from the primaries, we have to challenge CREDIBLY the democrat incumbants.”
Absolutely right. We need to get this and develop strategies - statewide strategies to challenge these fat cats.
Since Specter plays an important role in the Democratic Congress, I expect to see the media take down Toomey any way they can.
Deserves repeating...
I trust them much more than Democrats. We have some good men and women left, can’t say the same for the Democrat party.
Well, I guess we won’t have to worry about Michael Steele and company supporting Arlen now. That’s the best part about this whole jump. I wonder if John Cornyn feels stupid now for coming out with that written statement in support of Spechter against Toomey. That was just two weeks ago.
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