An Interview with Arlen Specter’s Challenger

Today, while I was in the middle of this post about Senator Specter and his likely opponent, Pat Toomey, the news surfaced that Specter is switching parties to become a Democrat. This is probably a gain for Republicans, since Specter mostly voted Democrat, and it saves the conservative, Toomey, from a tough and expensive primary fight. Toomey can go on to defeat Specter in the general election, and Specter has no guarantee that he will win the Democratic primary anyway. I have changed this post to a short excerpt, instead of the lengthy interview I was planning to publish in two installments.

My disaffection for Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania is exceeded only by my dislike for former Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. Chafee was not only a foolish liberal who pretended to be a conservative at election time, but he rode into the sunset on a debt of gratitude that Rhode Islanders had for his father, John Chafee. Senator Specter has torpedoed so many conservative Republican attempts to re-impose Constitutional government on our nation, that we see red whenever he appears in our field of view. It was Senator Specter who torpedoed our last attempt to defeat Obama’s porkulus bills. Hopefully, he has ridden the single-bullet theory into his own sunset.

Toomey Talks

By Philip Klein 4.28.09 American Spectator (Excerpt)

“In 1998, Pat Toomey left a career in finance and restaurants to launch a bid for a Congressional seat in Pennsylvania's 15th District, located in Allentown. After winning a surprising victory, he served for six years in the U.S. House of Representatives, earning a lifetime 97 percent rating from the American Conservative Union. In 2004, he challenged incumbent Arlen Specter for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, coming within 17,000 votes out of a million cast in a bitterly fought primary in which he was outspent 4 to 1.

Toomey served as president of the Club for Growth for more than four years starting in 2005 as the organization financed candidates who stood for lower taxes and limited government. Earlier this month, Toomey announced he would challenge Specter again in 2010, setting the stage for what is sure to be one most closely watched primary battles of next year's election cycle. A Rasmussen poll released last week showed Toomey with a 21-point edge over Specter.” American Spectator