Biden writes in support of Specter

Vice President Joe Biden has e-mailed half-a-million Obama supporters in Pennsylvania to tout Senator Arlen Specter for reelection, Politico

Specter Advocates for Transcriptions of CIA Briefings

By THE OFFICE OF SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER

Washington, D.C. – Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) today wrote the CIA Director, White House Counsel, and the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees urging that transcripts be made during the CIA’s congressional briefings.

The letters state:

“From my experience on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which I chaired in the 104th Congress, I found there were frequent disputes as to whether the CIA did…

Specter and don’t-ask-don’t-tell

It’s the question I’ve been asking myself recently, after the Obama administration saw the Full Story

Reading file for a slow news day

Slow news days are funny. When they’re bunched up together, and time drags on, you hate them as a journalist.

But when they come after the crazy few weeks we’ve had recently, they’re a treat.

We’re experiencing one of those stretches now, the lull after primary day. I’m looking into some more in-depth stories now, but in the meantime, wanted to supply you with some good reading from elsewhere.

Friend-of-the-site Josh Drobnyk has a Full Story

The ‘loyal Democrat’ meme emerges

After insisting he would not just be a “loyal Democrat” or an automatic vote for his new party—and sticking to it for a solid week—Senator Arlen Specter seems growing more comfortable among the Democratic ranks. And the press seems to be taking notice.

“ p“…he’s been about as automatic as they come, holding the party line on every measure but one that’s come before the chamber,” emThe Morning Call/em a href="http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/state/all-a16_5specter.6904858may21,0,6336403.story" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.mcall.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mcall.com%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fstate%2Fall-a16_5specter.6904858may21%2C0%2C6336403.story','writes')" target="_blank"writes/a./p
pWhether Democrats embrace him as heartily as he’s beginning to embrace them remains an open question. But if there was ever a clear turning point, it could be his recent a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22768.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.politico.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F0509%2F22768.html','support')" target="_blank">support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her ongoing spat with the CIA.

•Earlier on pa2010.com:

The First Read — May 21, 2009

Good Morning!

Every Monday-Thursday morning, pa2010.com compiles the most important political news of the day, from newspapers to the blogosphere and back. Enjoy this edition.

pstrongANALYSIS: Once again, Specter’s fate could hinge on card-check/strongbr /
In March, Senator Arlen Specter was under an extraordinary amount of pressure regarding the Employee Free Choice Act. With attacks from the right becoming more fierce and his primary reelection prospects looking more and more difficult, Specter said he would oppose the “card-check” bill to ease worker unionization. a href="../2009/05/analysis-once-again-specters-fate-could-hinge-on-card-check/" target="_blank"Read More/a/p
pstrongFrontrunner Toomey not looking behind him/strongbr /
When he was in Harrisburg Monday for a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon, Pat Toomey looked and acted like the candidate way out in front. He delivered a crisp rundown on why the economy is mess, even if he was a little short on specific solutions about how to right the course, other than saying the federal government was making a mistake by seizing so much control of the market. a href="../2009/05/frontrunner-toomey-not-looking-behind-him/" target="_blank"Read More/a/p
pstrongMurphy was briefed on enhanced interrogation/strongbr /
Eighth District Congressman Patrick Murphy has attended two CIA briefings at the center of a firestorm between the agency and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said she was lied to about waterboarding. a href="http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/the_intelligencer/the_intelligencer_news_details/article/27/2009/may/20/murphy-was-briefed-on-enhanced-interrogation.html"Read Morebr /
/abr /
strongArlen Specter seems to side with Nancy Pelosi on CIA/strongspan class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f08d0c; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;"br /
/spanSen. Arlen Specter appeared to side with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday in her spat with the CIA over harsh interrogation methods, saying the agency has a history of being less than forthright with Congress. a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22768.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.politico.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F0509%2F22768.html','Read+More')" target="_blank"Read More/a/p
pstrongPrimary reason for low turnout? Blame habit/strongbr /
Despite good weather, slew of candidates and issues, residents stay away from polls. Only 35 percent of registered voters participated. a href="http://www.timesleader.com/news/Primary_reason_for_low_turnout__Blame_habit_05-20-2009.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.timesleader.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesleader.com%2Fnews%2FPrimary_reason_for_low_turnout__Blame_habit_05-20-2009.html','Read+More')">Read More

Knox’s guy loses a tough one
Tuesday had to be a disappointing evening for Josh Morrow, the campaign manager for gubernatorial hopeful Tom Knox. That’s because Morrow also managed the Philadelphia District Attorney campaign for Dan McCaffery, who lost last night’s primary by about 12 points. Read…

Toomey Declares Victory One Year Early

By ROBERT TOWNSEND FOR SENATE

Pat Toomey said he’ll be the Republican Senatorial Nominee at a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon. The Townsend for Senate Campaign believes that this comment shows a high level of arrogance and presumptuousness on Mr. Toomey’s part, since it will be another year before Pennsylvania voters get the opportunity to decide for themselves.

Toomey said he is not concerned about gaining GOP support in order to ward off other candidates in…

Thompson’s Bill Included in House-passed Small Business Measure

By THE OFFICE OF CONGRESSMAN GLENN THOMPSON (R-5)

Washington, DC—A measure to encourage job creation in this nation passed the House of Representatives today.

Included in that bill, (H.R. 2352), The Job Creation through Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, was a bill by U.S. Representative Glenn `GT’ Thompson, R-Howard, which will assist small business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs to get training and education through the use of technology.

Thompson’s bill, which passed today as part of…

Specter says CIA has bad record on honesty

Senator Arlen Specter appeared to side with House Speak Nancy Pelosi Wednesday regarding her spat with the CIA over interrogation briefings, Politico

Mea culpa (this one’s big)

Embarrassing mistake today, one for which there is no excuse. In the haste of trying to respond to my Google Alerts, I posted a story about a pI have deleted the story from the site—posting a correction on a completely defunct story seemed silly. But in the interest of the a href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/04/a-mea-culpa-and-a-note-on-corrections/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F04%2Fa-mea-culpa-and-a-note-on-corrections%2F','transparency+and+integrity+I+have+promised')" target="_blank"transparency and integrity I have promised/a, I thought I’d come clean./p
pSuch a mistake is, frankly, humiliating. Errors happen, but not like this. Don’t expect it to happen again./p
pa href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/05/name-my-dog/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F05%2Fname-my-dog%2F','On+a+lighter+note%2C+have+you+suggested+a+name+for+my+dog+yet%3F')" target="_blank">On a lighter note, have you suggested a name for my dog yet?