Interesting. I got this e-mail today from the Joe Sestak campaign. (I'll post the text in just a minute.)
Sestak is the congressman planning to run against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary. Pat Toomey is the conservative Republican whose likely primary challenge convinced Specter to switch from Republican to Democrat earlier this year.
What I find interesting is that both appear to have formed a tacit agreement to gang up on Specter. Interesting, but not surprising.
The implication, of course, is basically -- Hey, we might disagree but we're willing to openly discuss our differences with the voters. Are YOU willing to do that, Arlen?
For Sestak, it's simply logical. He'll have plenty of time to gun for Toomey if he wins the pirmary.
In Toomey's case, it's a sign that he fears Specter more than Sestak. Which he should.
Specter's better known. A wide, bipartisan cross-section of Pennsylvanians gave him his multiple re-elections. He was pretty liberal by Republican standards and never particularly popular among hardcore GOP members, particularly in Central Pa.
In fact, it was Toomey's coming within a hair's breadth of beating him during the last Republican primary that prompted Specter to switch parties.
Now, I suspect a lot of Pennsylvania Democrats are facing the same dilemma over Specter that Republicans have dealt with for years. They've got a primary candidate taking on Specter who more closely reflects their beliefs, but who doesn't stand nearly as good a chance as Specter in the general election.
Do they gamble on Sestak and risk losing it all, or do they compromise with the safer bet that Specter represents?
Sestak, of course, has his work cut out for him. But what a painful irony it would be for Specter to change his party, then lose the primary anyway.
Oh yeah, here's the text of that e-mail I mentioned earlier:
Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak issued the following response to Republican Pat Toomey's statement about a candid exchange on health care.
"Pat, I look forward to such an exchange; how about a great town hall on health care? Does the evening of September 2nd, in your home town of Allentown at Muhlenberg College, work for you? We'll have a great discussion of the health care reform effort. I want to show you the light on the public health care option! What do you say?"
_____
Statement is in reference to Republican Pat Toomey's statement on August, 20th, 2009:
"Yesterday, Rep. Joe Sestak and U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey had an informative exchange about the current health care proposals being debated in Washington.
"Regarding the exchange, Mr. Toomey commented: 'I think Joe Sestak and I would agree that having a candid debate about honest policy differences is a refreshing change from attempting to interact with Arlen Specter, whose position changes by the day. Pennsylvanians deserve the kind of straightforward and respectful dialogue about critical issues that Joe Sestak and I are prepared to give them.'"
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