Sestak Surge Raises Questions for Dems

[MH1]

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/2010/05/sestak-surge-raises-questions.html

Rep. Joe Sestak’s surge in the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary (Quinnipiac has him up today, barely, 42% to 41% over Sen. Arlen Specter) has to be raising some big questions and sparking some serious second-guessing among party big shots.

And the first question has to be, how hard do they really want to work for Specter? It’s an important question because it is no longer apparent that Specter is the stronger general election candidate against likely GOP contender Pat Toomey.

As Quinnipiac noted last week, Sestak was doing slightly better than Specter — for the first time — against Toomey in head-to-head polling. And as pollster Peter Brown noted today, Specter is the “ultimate incumbent” in a very anti-incumbent year.

Yeah I know a couple people are going to come on and say Sestak's surge isn't enough to put him past the Rendell machine.

We'll see.

Then there's this:

But what if Rendell works his magic, Specter wins, and then Toomey sails to victory on the anti-incumbent tide? How will the intra-party favorite-picking look then? Would Rendell be better off letting the chips fall where they may?

[T Wolf]

1. The Party powers that be are making a serious mistake in this primary. They are so

insulated in their offices that they have no idea how low a lot of Dems hold the Spectre.

Good bye Arlen. Good fucking riddance.

[Jennicut]

7. Oh, I am sure they know how Specter would face a tough primary challenge

with Stestak. He faced one with the Rethug Toomey too. Specter switched out of desperation but I doubt he would have done it without some agreement of some support. Party switchers don't just switch. I don't think it was out of any look at what Specter was vs Sestak. Sestak would make a better Dem but is hardly a raging progressive, he is just not a former Rethug.

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[Deep13]

4. Me too, but it is still at 1. nt

[Deep13]

3. It raises this question...

Should we act like Democrats or keep playing toward the ever-right-moving center?

[Oceansaway]

5. K&R...n/t

[disillusioned73]

6. One day..

and we will find out if this party is truely trending "progressive" or a buch of status quo softies..

[polichick]

8. Specter's an incumbent Republican that the establishment has tapped...

Three strikes, he's out!

[saltpoint]

9. The Keystone Elves are whispering... shhh.....it sounds like they're

saying "Specter is toast....Specter is toast....Specter is toast..."

Recommended.

I'm rooting for Joe.