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The GOP angst over Arlen Specter escalated Monday after Pat Toomey said he might challenge the state's senior senator in the 2010 primary. Toomey, a former Pennsylvania congressman, made his remarks during a radio show Monday morning. It was such hot news among Republican faithful that the Web site GrassrootsPA.com temporarily crashed after breaking the story and attracting megahits. Many conservatives in Pennsylvania have had it with Specter. For them, the news about Toomey was a chunk of delicious red meat. Meanwhile, Specter, 79, knows his biggest supporters are on the other side of the aisle -- and in the...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Thanks to the generosity of GOP donors, a Green Party candidate is expected to make it onto the ballot in Pennsylvania's Senate race and siphon votes from Democratic front-runner Bob Casey in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Rick Santorum. While Santorum said Monday that he would welcome another candidate on the ballot, Casey's campaign accused Republicans of "trying to steal the election." Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, making his first bid for statewide elective office, acknowledged Monday that Republican contributors probably supplied most of the $100,000 that he said he spent gathering signatures to qualify for...

MICHELMAN FOR SENATE? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Will Kate Michelman get into the Pennsylvania Senate race? From the Legal Times (sub. only): Already frustrated with the Democratic Party for putting forward an anti-abortion candidate to run against Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, says she has been asked by a number of women's groups and Democratic donors to jump into the hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania as an independent. The final straw? When Santorum's Democratic challenger, Bob Casey, endorsed the nomination of Samuel Alito Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court. 'After Casey announced...

Casey enters U.S. Senate race; Hafer withdraws Friday, March 04, 2005 By Maeve Reston, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette WASHINGTON -- Pennsylvania State Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. announced today that he would challenge U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum for his seat in 2006, likely setting up one of the most closely watched races in the country next year. And clearing the way for Casey, state Auditor General Barbara Hafer today announced she would pull out of the race just days after she announced her candidacy. Casey, a Democrat who opposes abortion rights, has long been eyed by the Democratic leadership as a formidable...

Patrick Toomey is the future. Pennsylvanians decide today if conservatism means something and is worth fighting for, or if it is an abstract principle rendered impractical by unprincipled political imprudents masquerading as "pragmatists."

A Lehigh County commissioner Thursday accused an aide to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of playing politics over public rail projects. The dust-up came as Roman endorsed Specter's foe, U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey of the Lehigh Valley, in the April 27 Republican primary. Roman said he phoned Baker Green on April 7 to discuss the possible restoration of passenger rail service between Philadelphia and Bethlehem and touching on other area rail proposals. Baker Green supported the concept, Roman said — until he confirmed his support for Toomey. At that point, Roman contends, ''the demeanor of the conversation dramatically changed … basically...

Poll shows good odds for Specter re-election bid Thursday, August 07, 2003The Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Fifteen months before the 2004 election, Republican U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter is favored nearly 2-1 over prospective Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Joseph Hoeffel, according to poll results released today. In a hypothetical two-way race, Specter would win 53 percent of the vote and Hoeffel would get 29 percent, the survey by the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Polling Institute showed. Specter's approval rating dipped slightly to 57 percent, compared to 60 percent in a similar poll in February, but the institute's assistant director, Clay...

I think it is fair to say that I'm something of an old hand at observing the political process. I was first elected as a Republican committeeman 50 years ago! A half century is time enough to learn the rules. The Republican primary battle between U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey and four-term Sen. Arlen Specter is unseemly, and bad for the party.