THE PRESS ROOM: Specter and Sestak take their sniping to the Inky

An occasional series of articles exploring how political campaigns are playing out in the media.

Whoever said newspapers have lost their place in contemporary political discourse?

Not Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak. The two Senate opponents have been taking shots at each other on the newspaper’s letters page over whether or not Specter really does like Amtrak.

p“Sestak is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts,” Specter wrote last week. “I have consistently and successfully advocated for increased funding for Amtrak, particularly in my capacity as a senior member of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on transportation, and have been recognized for these efforts by the National Association of Railroad Passengers.”/p
pa href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090928_Letters__Specter_trying_to_spin_his_position_on_Amtrak.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Finquirer%2Fopinion%2F20090928_Letters__Specter_trying_to_spin_his_position_on_Amtrak.html','In+a+letter+today')" target="_blank">In a letter today, Sestak says Specter’s a Johnny-come-lately to the issue.

“The point I made was that…

Why?

Someone at CNN finally answered my burning question?

Why so many terror plots unraveled in one week? I sometimes think one case can lead to another via connections and internet tracking, etc.

Any ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Specter rebukes Sestak’s claims that he came late to Amtrak funding debate

When Arlen Specter sent a request to Joe Biden asking for federal stimulus funds to help repair Pennsylvania’s Amtrak bridges, Joe Sestak criticized the Senator for not advocating for funding sooner. Sestak’s criticisms were included in an Inquirer story that ran last week. Specter says that the claims are unfounded and misleading.

In the Inquirer article, Joe Sestak accuses Specter of being a late convert to funding for Amtrak. The Inquirer quotes Sestak as saying:…

The First Read — September 28, 2009

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.

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Mass. political consultant to announce candidacy in PA-7 today
E. Teresa Touey, a former aide to Senator Ted Kennedy and Congressman Joe Sestak who has lived in Massachusetts since…

Onorato should like this

The Tribune-Review has an interesting

Thornburgh makes two former guvs endorsing Corbett

Former Gov. Dick Thornburgh endorsed Tom Corbett for governor Friday, giving the state Attorney General’s bid for the Governor’s Mansion the backing of two former residents in as many days.

A day after former Gov. Tom Ridge endorsed Corbett, a Republican, Thornburgh, who was a two-term governor in the 1980s, said Corbett “possesses the intellect, vision, ideas and energy that will be necessary to lead Pennsylvania, and turn around our ailing economy.”

“As a Pennsylvania…

Ladies and gentlemen, the sixth and seventh districts

While Washington continues to work on health care, the entertainment in the 6th and 7th Congressional districts keeps getting better.

First Ryan Costello, a GOP candidate in the 6th, suggests that he’s a better candidate than Steven Welch because he’s

Community organizers gone wild

Over the last few weeks, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), has been caught on camera at locations all across the country doing awful things such as giving advice on how to cheat the IRS to a couple who were posing as a pimp and a prostitute.

For those of you who don’t know, ACORN is a group with strong ties to President Obama and many leaders in the Democratic Party at…

Banks’ backpedal signaling balance shift?

In what may be not only a stunning reversal in its incessant march toward greed in recent years, but also a stunning acknowledgment that the halcyon days of the Bush administration have come to an end and the balance of power is shifting away from their unrestrained, ego-gratifying gluttony, the U.S. banking industry has done an about-face on what had become a windfall money-maker for them: overdraft fees.

Three of the nation’s biggest banks, JP…

I hate you Roger Wicker and 6 others

During a week when Arlen Specter wrote a letter to President Obama and other members of congress asking for money for Amtrak to fix unsafe bridges, and when SEPTA is needing to test automated breaking equipment, Roger Wicker and six other Senators strike again.

As if having guns in national parks isn’t enough, now Amtrak will lose it’s federal subsidies if it doesn’t comply with a demand to allow passengers to pack heat (in their…