Massachusetts election eye-opener for Specter
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WASHINGTON -- The backing of the White House, promised after his party switch, has aided Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's re-election campaign in several ways.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden have both made fundraising appearances in Pennsylvania for Mr. Specter, and the campaign has at its disposal the legions of Organizing for America, the grass-roots arm of the Democratic National Committee.
Mr. Specter also has been able to parade Cabinet secretaries around the state. In recent months, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan both have examined their operations and met with voters in the Pittsburgh area.
But in the most critical area -- votes -- the president might not be the draw that Mr. Specter envisioned in April.
Tuesday's astonishing victory by Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown to take over the late Edward M. Kennedy's seat in the U.S. Senate appeared to underscore the public's distaste for the incumbent party, following a trend from governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia last fall.
Mr. Specter is facing a primary challenge from Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Delaware County, with Republican Pat Toomey waiting in the wings for a general election fight and polling strong.
A Rasmussen poll released yesterday showed Mr. Specter with his biggest lead yet on Mr. Sestak, 53 to 32 percent. But the primary has been a fight, and either candidate will emerge bloodied, said University of Virginia professor and politics expert Larry Sabato. Like Massachusetts, Mr. Sabato said, Pennsylvania is experiencing "a Republican tide in a blue state. It will help Toomey."
Mr. Sabato allowed that an improved economy could change Democratic prospects in November, but the party can help itself, he said, if it scales back its ambitions on health care reform. Some aspects of the plan, such as ending insurance company discrimination against policy seekers with pre-existing conditions, are popular, but polls show the plan as a whole is opposed by a majority of the public.
Mr. Specter and Mr. Sestak disagreed. Both Democrats said they didn't think the Massachusetts vote was a rejection of policies such as health care reform, but instead of how Congress has been conducting its affairs.
First Published January 21, 2010 12:00 am
