WASHINGTON — Thursday marks one year since Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced he was becoming a Democrat, leaving the Republican Party and a potentially tough 2010 Pennsylvania GOP primary election in his rearview mirror. One year after his decision, Specter finds himself under fire from both sides; a Democratic primary challenge from his left by Rep. Joe Sestak, D –Pa., as well as incessant attacks from the GOP.
In remarks to be delivered Thursday evening in Washington, Sestak will hit on his opponent’s change of heart last year, “A year ago today, Senator Specter, after 44 years as a Republican, left his party. He made his reasons very clear. He said he joined our party because his chances of winning re-election as a Republican were “bleak.”
The Pennsylvania congressman is also accusing Specter of spreading mistruths in their recent TV ad, which claims Sestak was “relieved of duty in the navy for creating a poor command climate”. “I retired because my daughter had a brain tumor…” Sestak told Fox News today, “this is what’s wrong with politics.”
Meanwhile, conservative Republican Pat Toomey waits to see which Democrat he’ll be running against in the fall, but that hasn’t stopped his campaign from chiming in, especially on this occasion. “Over the past year, Arlen Specter has proven time and again that the only principle that matters to him is the preservation of his own political career,” Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik said. “He has changed his position on nearly every issue, from health care, to card check, to national security.”
Specter’s campaign fired right back at the Toomey campaign’s criticism, “Pat Toomey is the original Mr. No of Pennsylvania politics and far outside the mainstream here, ” said Specter Campaign Manager Christopher Nicholas.
On the Senate floor Thursday, Specter attempted to stay above the fray, “The stakes for America require that we all do our level best and permit the public to judge us accordingly… there is a pressing need for Republicans to join with us in reforming Wall Street, to prevent the kind of financial crisis which cost this country eight million jobs.”
However, Specter staffers however found themselves doing a bit of cleanup Thursday, with multiple news outlets filing on the following Specter quote: ”Well, I probably shouldn’t say this,”[Specter] said over lunch last month. ”But I have thought from time to time that I might have helped the country more if I’d stayed a Republican.”
Mr. Nicholas responded by emailing out what he characterized as the entire quote, for context:
“Well, I probably shouldn’t say this, but I have thought from time to time that I might have helped the country more if I’d stayed Republican and tried to bring people across the aisle on healthcare. I might have brought a few across the aisle.”