Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania, tees off on the first hole of the Pro-Am tournament at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida, on March 25. If he tees up back home in 2010, a new poll shows, he could be a senator. (Photo by Stephen M. Dowell / Orlando Sentinell)
by Mark Silva
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsyvlania may have made a reelection-enhancing move with his switch to the Democratic Party.
Specter, a five-termer and the state's longest-serving senator, conceded that his chances for another term would have been "bleak'' within his home state's GOP primary contest. But he holds an apparent 20-point advantage over the Republican Party's best-known candidate there, conservative Pat Toomey.
That's the finding of a new Quinnipiac University poll of Pennsylvanians, who favor Specter over Toomey by a margin of 53 to 33 percent in this survey.
It also finds something else: Former Gov. Tom Ridge, Republican, former Homeland Security secretary and decorated Vietnam War veteran, could give Specter a lot more to worry about in 2010: Specter holds only a 46-43 advantage in the survey -- no advantage at all, statistically speaking.
It's independents who could move en masse in a Ridge-Specter contest: They like Specter over Toomey by a 45-36 percent margin, but they like Ridge over Specter 47-37.
"A former Republican senator running as a Democrat against a popular former Republican governor seeking to make a political comeback would be a battle royal in Pennsylvania," says Clay Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
"Gov. Tom Ridge is probably the only political figure in Pennsylvania who could give Sen. Arlen Specter a run for his money, '' he adds. "But even if he gets a strong challenge from a Republican, Specter is still better off for having changed parties because he seemed headed to certain defeat had he stayed a Republican and faced Toomey in a primary.''
(Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), above, walking the hallway of the Dirksen Senate office building, Photo by Susan Walsh / AP)
Comments
Time to throw Toomey under the bus.
Posted by: bill r. | May 4, 2009 1:55 PM
He's got out Ronnie Reagan's old bottle of black hair dye.
He's thinking, if he could knock off Arlen, he might get the nomination in 2012.
Then , run with Lou Dobbs against Obama.
Ronnie Redux.
Sort of like a John Updike novel.
And just as fictional.
Posted by: ornery | May 4, 2009 2:14 PM
" Bring 'em on ! " Oh, I'm sorry, it seems as though, that bravado has been misused too many times, in the recent past !! Ex-Governor Ridge should have quietly rode off, into the sunset, counting those big bucks, I'm sure he made in the Security business, once, out of government !! Especially after his successor, ex-Secretary Chertoff, had so incompetently led, ex-Secretary Ridge's, Department of Homeland Security !! I am sure ex-Secretary Ridge played no small role, in ex-Secretary Chertoff's selection and, ultimately, in the debacle that followed, Katrina, in New Orleans !! Ex-Secretary Ridge, is playing the same old Republican trick: Don't look at what I did, listen to what I am saying !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | May 4, 2009 2:23 PM
Sen.Spector is a great example of why we need "Term Limits". Just take a good look at both houses of Congress, Some of these people have been around far too long. And I do mean both sides of the aisle. To be elected to the Senate or a Congressional seat is certainly an honor, but its not meant to be a life time job.
Posted by: Paul | May 4, 2009 2:29 PM
The GOP spent years trying to fool everybody in sight with its phony-baloney, dime-store philosophies, it’s now trapped in the patently pathetic phase of fooling itself.
It’s not a party; it’s a cult. This is the party of Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Newt (“I’m trying to rise from the ash heap that I created”) Gingrich, and the dark force who can’t seem to exit the public stage or modify his medieval ways, Dick Cheney.
It is losing all credibility with the public because it is not offering anything — anything at all — that could be viewed as helpful or constructive in a time of national crisis. And it has been unwilling to take responsibility for its role in bringing that crisis about.
Posted by: former Republican | May 4, 2009 2:39 PM
Ridge loves money too much to run. He sold out (as usual with former Bushies) for big bucks after leaving the Color Code Scare Business for Bushco.
Ridge deliberately distorted the color coded "terror alerts" at the Bush Administration's request for political gain, then admitted to it well after the fact when Bush no longer needed to seek re-election
Posted by: former Republican | May 4, 2009 3:29 PM
So, there is no longer a Republican senator from Pa, and there may never be another one from Pa. Nevertheless, very glad to see this particular one go. He is following his heart and that’s what every good politician should aspire to do. Well, assuming that re-election can be more or less assured.
Rupert, if you are out there, I would accept your trade of one O. Snowe, RHINO-Me, for one J. Lieberman, Ct. Joe Lieberman supports the effort against terrorism, but other than that is really quite reliably liberal. Democrats should want to keep him, but I think that he is probably too much of a very decent guy. Despite his liberalism, he would still be a very substantial upgrade over Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and probably Susan Collins also.
Posted by: Django - N Exile somewhere in/around the 30th Parallel | May 4, 2009 3:51 PM
Wish hiom the best against turn coat Specter.
Posted by: Inky | May 4, 2009 4:06 PM
Rihe should do go9od as Specter is low on creditability these days.
Posted by: Inky | May 4, 2009 4:12 PM
Rihe should do go9od as Specter is low on creditability these days.
Posted by: Inky | May 4, 2009 4:12 PM
.
Have any of you Republican mouth-breathers ever heard of SPELL CHECK?!
Geeze, I undestand that the average Republican minion has a fairly low IQ but this is just embarrassing beyond belief.
Posted by: Bl!nky | May 4, 2009 4:36 PM
Ornery, that's better than Ronnie, Run...
Django, you think Lieberman is liberal?? Sure, we'll take all your women, except Michele Bachman. You take Joe, and take back Arlen too.
Posted by: rupert | May 4, 2009 5:08 PM
Duct tape the voting booths. I'm not a fan of Specter, but Ridge is an idiot.
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | May 4, 2009 8:38 PM