Pa. Club for Growth founder says Toomey shouldn’t run

The founder of the Pennsylvania Club for Growth is calling on Pat Toomey to step aside from the Republican Senate primary against Arlen Specter, saying that Toomey’s candidacy threatens to give the Senate seat to the Democrats.

The comments by the now-defunct group’s founder, William Parker, were made in a letter to Republicans, paid for, distributed and released this morning by Specter’s campaign. His stance echoes that of several Republicans, local and national, who have backed Specter out of concern that any other Republican would lose in next year’s general election. The Pennsylvania Club for Growth was an independent chapter of the national Club for Growth, which Toomey led until recently resigning to run for Senate, and Parker’s comments are not backed by the national organization, which endorsed Toomey this month.

“Today I am urging Pat to withdraw from the 2010 Senate race because his candidacy threatens to hand over total control of the federal government to the Democrats,” Parker wrote. “I believe Senator Specter is the only person who can keep that Senate seat in the GOP column.”

A Toomey campaign spokesman did not immediately comment.

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Conryn voiced similar concerns in backing Specter earlier this month. In an interview with PoliticsPA, state GOP chairman Rob Gleason took a different tack, saying Toomey could be just as electable next November, a stance with which analysts almost universally disagree.

UPDATE: Toomey responds.