Specter vs Sestak in Pennsylvania (UPDATE AND BUMP: Sestak Projected to Win) (UPDATE 2: Specter Concedes)
[Guest post by DRJ]
There are Senate primary races in Oregon, Arkansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, but the Pennsylvania Democratic primary may be the most interesting of them all:
“The nationally watched U.S. Senate primary between incumbent Arlen Specter and his Democratic rival, Rep. Joe Sestak, sits atop the agenda as Pennsylvania voters go to the polls Tuesday to select party nominees for a whole raft of offices, including governor and lieutenant governor.
Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. for the 4.3 million Democrats and 3.1 million Republicans enrolled to vote.”
Recent polls show the election is close. The winner will likely face Republican Pat Toomey in the general election.
Here are the Commonwealth’s unofficial election returns.
— DRJ
UPDATE: Toomey easily won the GOP nomination. AP and CBS report Sestak won the Democratic nomination.
UPDATE BY PATTERICO: CNN also projects Sestak as the winner over Specter.
UPDATE by DRJ: Specter has conceded (H/T jackee308):
“Arlen Specter has conceded to Joe Sestak, who will win the Democratic Senate Primary in the Pennsylvania Senatorial Election of 2010. Specter thanked Sestak for his victory and kept his concession speech short, thanking his supporters and the people of Pennsylvania.”
Another incumbent out of Congress.
Test comment.
Stashiu3 (44da70) — 5/18/2010 @ 5:55 pmAP is calling the race for Sestek.
ropelight (2985b5) — 5/18/2010 @ 7:16 pmCBS calls it for Sestak, too. I updated the post to include this.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/18/2010 @ 7:21 pmI heard today that Specter’s only chance to win was if Philadelphia turned out big for him, but it was raining and turnout was expected to be low. The polls show Sestak polls better against Toomey than Specter, which suggests Republicans should have pulled for Specter. Even so, I still think it’s better to turn out most incumbents.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/18/2010 @ 7:43 pmso are we going to see the MSM handwringing about how the Democrats in PA turned down a bi-partisan Senator? Or is the Spector loss going to be totally different , not the same thing as Bennett being turned down in UT ?
seaPea (38ffcc) — 5/18/2010 @ 7:50 pmDid we really expect Senator Specter to win over Pennsylvania’s Democrats?
Specter burned his bridges with the Republicans. There is no reason for the Republicans to beg for his support.
Michael Ejercito (249c90) — 5/18/2010 @ 7:54 pmWhat I’m saying is the GOP should want Specter to be Toomey’s opponent, because Specter might be easier for Toomey to beat. Is that what you’re saying, too?
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/18/2010 @ 7:56 pmUpdate: Specter concedes.
jakee308 (a38882) — 5/18/2010 @ 8:00 pmThanks, jakee308. I’ll update the post.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/18/2010 @ 8:08 pmI’ve heard that reasoning at other places too. I’m not a fan of that type of calculation because it backfires too easily and you end up with the crappiest candidate of all. Kind of like how people started saying that pushing Barack Obama over Hillary made sense because he would be easy to beat. Until he started making large gains that is, then it was the other way around. Then people were pleased with Joe Biden as the VP candidate because he was such a liability that it would torpedo Obama. None of that quite worked out and look what we ended up with.
My advice to my son: Vote the best candidate, get rid of incumbents whenever possible (because a rookie is almost always better than a professional politician), and vote No on all referendums unless you thoroughly understand and agree with them.
Stashiu3 (44da70) — 5/18/2010 @ 8:17 pmI agree, but everything I’ve seen suggests Sestak is more liberal than Specter so Specter would be the better candidate of those two … but I still don’t think I could vote for Specter.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/18/2010 @ 8:21 pmWhat’s the betting line on Specter running as an independent? I’m betting he’ll make noise about it, then accept a payoff not to siphon votes away from Sestak.
Stashiu3 (44da70) — 5/18/2010 @ 8:23 pmWOOHOO!!! one more step in the campaign to make RINOs an extinct species.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 5/18/2010 @ 8:40 pmseaPea – I have a feeling that the MSM will find the two situations entirly and completely different, just as Blanche Lincoln not avoiding a runoff will not be a repudiation of a moderate incumbent.
Have Blue (854a6e) — 5/18/2010 @ 9:25 pmIt’s disappointing that Burns lost but those people may be hoping that Murtha’s pork will keep flowing. There is still November.
Mike K (82f374) — 5/18/2010 @ 9:26 pmTakes quite a dispassionate thinker to realize there’s some truth in this. I don’t agree, though. Specter isn’t honest. He’s incredibly long in the tooth as a politician, barely coherent, and I think he’s a crook at the public trough. I don’t think a more liberal candidate who is more honest is worse.
I also think the democrats would have been insane to nominate such a swindler. Good for them for choosing their best man! Even if he’s not as moderate as Specter’s facade sometimes appears to be.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 5/18/2010 @ 9:56 pmI don’t live in Pennsylvania, but I think the way in which Sen. Specter changed parties was telling: it wasn’t motivated by ideology, like Sen. Gramm or Sen. Jeffords; it was motivated by sheer political opportunism.
Why should Democrats trust him to stand for their beliefs tomorrow?
aphrael (9e8ccd) — 5/18/2010 @ 10:49 pmF* Specter, may he rot in an eternal hell.
Scumbags like him deserve no less.
HeavenSent (a9126d) — 5/19/2010 @ 4:52 amman, talk about going out with zero dignity. Specter switches parties to save his a$$, and they knock him out in the primary. harsh.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 5/19/2010 @ 5:27 am> Another incumbent out of Congress.
…500 to go.
IgotBupkis (79d71d) — 5/19/2010 @ 6:15 amI voted in the R primary in PA. Friends of mine switched to D to vote against Specter. It didn’t make much sense to me as I think Sestak is the stronger D against Pat Toomey, but my guess is that more Rs switched parties to vote in this primary than did in the 2008 D primary.
rfy (0f1c61) — 5/19/2010 @ 6:28 amSpecter the Defector is gone. Slapped in the face by BOTH parties.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 5/19/2010 @ 7:09 amLast night the news channels played an ad over and over that showed Specter saying he changed parties so that he could get re-elected. It was awesome in its depiction of sheer greed and ambition. One incumbent down, many more to go.
Rochf (ae9c58) — 5/19/2010 @ 8:36 amtesting
enoch_root (9548cd) — 5/19/2010 @ 9:02 amWith Senator Specter burning his bridges with the Republicans because he feared losing the Republican primary, could we have expected a different result?
Michael Ejercito (249c90) — 5/19/2010 @ 10:31 amEveryone seems to have had their fill of Arlen Spector except Arlen.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/19/2010 @ 10:34 amNow that he is a lame duck, will we finally see the real Arlen Specter?
Amphipolis (b120ce) — 5/20/2010 @ 6:56 amThe issue is gaining momentum. Here’s the Washington Post take. Note that the Post describes Republicans as gleeful. They are looking for a picture of Republicans rubbing their hands together in glee:
“Republicans gleefully highlighted every incident of the White House’s practiced silence on the matter, using the Sestak allegation to undermine one of the pillars of the Obama brand: transparency and accountability.”
Arizona Bob (f57a20) — 5/28/2010 @ 11:17 am