Free Republic

In a sign of voter discontent within Pennsylvania's Republican Party, a poll released today shows 30-year incumbent U.S. Senato r Arlen Specter trailing one of his primary challengers by 21 points. The senate primary election will be held in May, 2010. The Rasmussen Reports survey found that former Congressman Pat Toomey would win 51% of the GOP vote, while Mr. Specter garnered only 30%. Mr. Toomey's favorable ratings are 66% to Specter's 42%. The rivals' negatives are 19% and 55%, respectively. In 2004, Mr. Toomey almost knocked off the powerful incumbent, losing by just two points. A critical factor in...

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) visited Drexel April 13 for a town hall meeting discussing a "Just and Clean Energy Future". The main goals as highlighted by the presentation were for 100 percent renewable energy, tax on carbon and the presence of green jobs, according to Nathan Taylor, a junior mechanical engineering and the event's organizer. Students were the main target of the town hall, according to Taylor. "We're trying to make a point that students matter, seeing that Specter is up for re-election, he should listen to the students," Taylor said. Specter said his main platform in running for re-election...

(CNN) — It's official. Former Rep. Pat Toomey is challenging Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter for his Senate seat, again. Toomey formally announced his 2010 Senate bid Wednesday, the second time he will challenge the incumbent Pennsylvania senator after running an unsuccessful primary campaign against him in 2004. "I'm running against Arlen Specter in the Republican primary because we need a new direction and positive solutions," Toomey says on his campaign website, ToomeyForSenate.com.

Conservative Pat Toomey, a former Lehigh Valley congressman, this morning announced he is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in the 2010 election in a videotaped message on his new campaign website, saying the nation is at a "crossroads" between a greatly expanding federal government and the direction of more economic freedom. The move sets up a much-anticipated rematch with moderate Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) who earned a fifth term in 2004 after defeating a challenge from Toomey by about 17,000 votes out of more than 1 million cast. Their race will feature a key debate among...

Because of the concentrated efforts of millions of Republicans all over America, Susan Collins (Maine) was reelected to the Senate, surviving a challenge once thought to be serious. She won, in large part, because she was able to drown her Democratic adversary in a sea of campaign spending made possible by donations from Republicans throughout the nation. As a result of their efforts, the GOP preserved its 40th vote in the Senate. And when Saxby Chambliss was forced into a runoff in the Georgia Senate race, Republicans from all over the United States poured out their hearts and their funds...

Sen. John Cornyn says Republican Sen. Arlen Specter is the GOP’s “best bet” to keep his Pennsylvania Senate seat from falling into Democrats’ hands. “As I survey the political landscape of the upcoming 2010 elections,” Cornyn wrote in a letter released by his office Tuesday, “it's clear we need more candidates that fit their states. While I doubt Arlen could win an election in my home state of Texas, I am certain that I could not get elected in Pennsylvania. I believe that Senator Specter is our best bet to keep this Senate seat in the GOP column. A vote...

Just spoke with someone in one of Senator Specter's PA offices. I told him what an outrage it is that this is being rushed through, and why not let it wait a week so the American people can see what's in it. He kept directing me "to the website". I asked him if Specter is planning on running in two years and he said yes. I then told him that he'll get one less vote this time around and that my vote will be going to a conservative like Pat Toomey in the primary. Finally I said Specter is going...

Former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) will challenge Sen. Arlen Specter in a primary for the second straight cycle, according to Pennsylvania GOP sources. The Allentown Morning Call reported Thursday that two friends of Toomey’s have said the Club for Growth chief has decided to enter the race. Toomey narrowly lost to Specter in a 2004 primary by less than 1 percent and recently said he was considering another run. The paper quotes Richard Thulin, leader of the Lehigh Valley Republican Network, saying in an e-mail to supporters that "Pat's formal announcement will be forthcoming. "Interesting news," he wrote. "Pat Toomey...

Supporter - Republican Senator Arlen Specter is picking sides. It is the crimes of the Bush administration vs. the American people, and Specter is choosing Bush. Specter doesn't want a Truth Commission to investigate Constitutional abuses authorized by Bush and Cheney. He's calling it a "fishing expedition," "unnecessary" and "un-American." Evidently, Specter is afraid of the truth. It's time to show Arlen Specter that America cannot only handle the truth, we demand it. Now's the perfect time to take action, Senator Specter is up for re-election in 2010. With your help we can plaster his home state of Pennsylvania with...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A conservative activist who ran for Pennsylvania governor three times in the 1990s says she will challenge Arlen Specter for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate next year. Peg Luksik, of Johnstown, said Tuesday she is not deterred by the prospective candidacy of former congressman Pat Toomey. Toomey, a fellow conservative who narrowly lost to Specter in the 2004 primary, says he is considering running in 2010. Luksik says Toomey told her last month that he wouldn't challenge Specter. She says it's up to Toomey to decide whether he wants to risk dividing the GOP's conservative...

The U.S. Senate engaged in a floor debate yesterday regarding the controversial confirmation vote of David Ogden as deputy attorney general. Mr. Ogden’s nomination has come under fire because of his legal work on behalf of the porn industry, as well as his efforts to weaken abortion laws. The Senate vote is expected today. Mr. Ogden’s nomination was sent to the full Senate after winning approval in the Judiciary Committee by a 14-5 margin. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., is the ranking minority member on the committee. Despite the Judiciary Committee receiving 11,000 calls urging the rejection of Mr. Ogden,...

OK, folks. Once again, this isn’t hard. This “card check” business – unions organizing an employer on the basis of public signups rather than secret ballots – is just plain W-R-O-N-G. Why not just issue labor bosses a few thousand crowbars and clubs and tell them to go out and “organize” to their hearts’ content? Duh. Then explain why the decision of Sen. Arlen Specter, RINO (Republican In Name Only) of Pennsylvania, to oppose the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” he once co-sponsored was greeted by conservatives with such bowing, scraping, acclaim and adulation. I get the import of Specter’s...

Senator Specter has begun running ads against Pat Toomey more than one year prior to the Republican Senatorial Primary election in Pennsylvania. Benedict Arlen has repeatedly opposed the GOP. Let's throw him out before he gets to the primary. Sign the petition to expel him from the GOP. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/expel-specter.com

Freepers, other citizens storm Sen. Specter's Office on Porkulus Written by Melanie Morgan    Monday, 09 February 2009 Sen. Arlen Specter must feel like one lucky man today. He wasn’t in his Capitol Hill offices when MAF Chairman Melanie Morgan, Gold Star Mom Debbie Lee, Freepers and Free Republic founder Jim Robinson, and other patriotic citizens stormed his office to demand he reverse his position supporting the porkulus bill, aka the Barack-Blowing-Through- Dollars-Scheme. MAF, as you know, is a protroops organization, and it is our opinion that this legislation will hurt veterans’ healthcare - not to mention every other American....

Grouped By Vote Position YEAs ---61 Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Begich (D-AK) Bennet (D-CO) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Burris (D-IL) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Gillibrand (D-NY) Hagan (D-NC) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Johnson (D-SD) Kaufman (D-DE) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) McCaskill (D-MO) Menendez (D-NJ) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV)...

I went to visit Sen. Arlen Specter to save him from an embarrassing pro-stimulus vote that will damage America's economy and send the nation back to 1970s-style stagflation. Jim Robinson, founder of FreeRepublic.com, and I arrived at Sen. Specter's office with a group of folks who oppose the $1.5 trillion stimulus package, on this past Monday morning. We asked to see Sen. Specter. The office secretary didn't seem to be happy to see us. I could not blame her. We were there to embarrass her boss. Jim, wearing his Navy cap, asked about the senator's whereabouts, but the secretary wasn't...

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The nation is on the "brink of a depression," but there's a "reasonable chance" that the $787 billion economic stimulus package will help ease the situation, Sen. Arlen Specter said Monday.Specter, R-Pa., said the nation's economic situation is more dire than the public has been told, but did not elaborate. "Our economic problems are enormously serious — more serious than is publicly disclosed. And I think we're on the brink of a depression," he told reporters at the state Capitol.

Dear (redacted): Thank you for contacting my office concerning the confirmation of Eric H. Holder. I appreciate your interest in this important matter and your opinion. The confirmation of an Attorney General is one of my most important responsibilities as a United States Senator. Next to the President, there is no federal official more important than the Attorney General to ensuring that the rule of law is enforced. Attorneys General are trusted with incredible responsibility and, in our justice system, they often have the final say on critical legal issues. As a result, I take the Senate's constitutional role in...

Aaron Blake of TheHill.com reported on March 16, 2009 that Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell(D), Sen. Bob Casey(D), and Vice-President Biden(D) are encouraging Senator Specter to leave the Republican party and join the Democrats. Let's give them a hand. SIGN the Petition TO EXPEL SPECTER FROM THE GOP at: www.gopetition.com/petitions/expel-specter.html You can view all of Aaron Blake's article at: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-press-specter-to-switch-sides-2009-03-16.html

Having rejected Democratic overtures to switch parties, Sen. Arlen Specter is raising the possibility he may spurn the GOP and run as an independent. “It’s an abstract possibility,” the Pennsylvania Republican also told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, regarding an independent bid. “But I am not making any plans on it.” Specter has suggested he would only do so as a last resort, and would continue to caucus with Republicans. Specter has been under fire from GOP conservatives particularly in his home state due to his moderate positions. He was one of only three Republican senators who voted for...