send to a friend | print | comment

CNN: Specter-Sestak one of many contentious 2010 primaries

CNN has published an analysis of the contentious primaries in 2010. It had this to say about the Sestak-Specter race:

Sen. Arlen Specter’s decision to leave the Republican Party in April handed President Obama a key vote in the Senate, and Specter was rewarded by quickly being endorsed by the president and Democratic leaders in his bid for re-election next year.

But not every Democrat got in line behind Obama. . . .

To say that Specter has been embraced by the Democratic establishment is an understatement, as Obama and Biden have both campaigned on his behalf. But Rep. Joe Sestak, a former admiral, is not backing down from running against Specter. He hopes to tap into a frustrated Democratic base, which has been voting against Specter since he was first elected to the Senate as a Republican in 1980.

CNN is largely telling us what we already know: This is a race for the hearts and minds of the Democratic base in Philadelphia, which is torn between loyalty for and trust in the President and his administration, and a long aversion to Senator Arlen Specter in their state.

It has been a while since a new poll came out in this race, and the numbers have been skewing wildly lately, with Rasumussen putting the race in a dead heat, while others showing Sestak still far afield.  It will be interesting to see in the coming month if any new numbers come up that show movement in this race. At this point it is a bit of a mystery to really judge who is winning in this primary battle. Even with Specter’s position on Afghanistan, the battle that pits party line politics against the outsider agitating for change maintains its basic outline as we head into December.

December 1, 2009 at 10:07 am

--Adam Schwartzbaum

comments

comments [0] | post a comment