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Ridge: A stronger force to compete with Specter

Tom Ridge, the former Governor and Secretary of Homeland Security, is flirting with the idea of running for Senate against Arlen Specter. If Ridge decides to run for Senator, Specter will have to work harder to win the seat.

In a recent Quinnipiac poll, Specter is shown to currently lead against Republican Pat Toomey by 53 – 33 percentage points.

If Ridge decides to run for Senator, however, Specter will only have a 3 percent edge in the general election, basically at the margin of error.

The poll also finds that Ridge would pull in 14 percent of the Democratic vote, which would be an important haul.

Ridge is a well-seasoned candidate and has considerable experience working both in the private sector and in government. His popularity in Pennsylvania should lead to an interesting and historic battle for the Senate seat.

“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,” said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in the statement detailing results of the Quinnipiac poll.

Although Ridge is popular, Richards believes that Specter’s newly acquired status as Democratic could give him a firm foundation for a campaign in Pennsylvania.

“Specter is now lined up with the powerful Democratic machine run by Gov. Ed Rendell and can count on a popular President Barack Obama coming to campaign for him if needed,” says Richards.

In a quirky example of grassroots campaigning, a young man by the name of Jared Walczak has formed a Facebook group to draft Ridge, which he is promoting in a press release on PoliticsPA. The tech-savvy grassroots campaigner has redirected the URL tomridgeforsenate.com to point to the Facebook group, which has over 700 members and is growing quickly.

May 7, 2009 at 11:58 am

--Kenneth Elder

Tags: Arlen Specter, Tom Ridge, Winnipiac Poll

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