Specter Well Behind Toomey in Pa. GOP Primary

[babylonsister]

Can't we make this thing any smaller? :nopity:

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/polltracker/2009/04/specter-well-behind-toomey-in.html

Specter Well Behind Toomey in Pa. GOP Primary

April 24, 2009 11:46 AM


Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter badly trails primary challenger Patrick J. Toomey, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll 13 months before GOP voters will choose their Senate nominee.

The survey, taken of 490 likely Republican voters on April 21, had Toomey leading Specter by 21 percentage points, 51 percent to 30 percent. Forty-two percent of respondents said that they had either a "very favorable" or "somewhat favorable" impression of Specter, compared to 55 percent of Republicans who said they had "somewhat unfavorable" or "very unfavorable" feelings about the senator.

The comparable numbers for Toomey, a former House member from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, were 66 percent favorable and 19 percent unfavorable.

The 2010 primary, which will be held in May of that year, is a rematch of a 2004 primary that Specter won by 51 percent to 49 percent. Toomey, the former president of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, has sharply criticized Specter for supporting some of President Obama's economic policies.

The only Democrat thus far who has declared a Senate campaign is Joe Torsella, who headed the National Constitution Center on Philadelphia's Independence Mall and who lost a 2004 Democratic House primary to current 13th District Democratic Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz.

CQ Politics presently rates the Pennsylvania Senate race as No Clear Favorite.

[Bunny]

1. Am I the only Pennsylvanian who's a little nervous about this?

The news that Specter is way behind Toomey doesn't give me a whole lot of comfort, at least not right now. The problem as I see it is that we don't yet have a solid Democratic candidate with good credentials and statewide name recognition. Who exactly are we going to put up for this race?

And although Pat Toomey really is batshit crazy, so was Santorum, and we sent him to the Senate for twelve years. PA's been blue the last few elections, but if there isn't a dramatic change in the overall situation by November 2010, I can see it swinging back to the right. Having Toomey be the beneficiary of that is just plain scary.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Since Specter is Republican toast anyway - he should just jump sides

Why not? He's a very conflicted guy who talks a good non-partisan game but then always disappoints at the last minute. He WANTS to be a Democrat, I know he does!

[T Wolf]

3. We don't want him, or need him. He always votes the puke party line when his vote counts.

He mouths "moderation" when it does not matter.

There would be not one god damned difference IF whack-job Toomey was in office instead of Cancer boy.

But, if Toomey wins the thug primary, he could be beaten.

It is a no-lose situation for Democrats. That is why I'm switching registration for their primary and pressing that Toomey button.