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LEFTOVERS: The party-switch anniversary, more guv endorsements, Dahlkemper targeted

Wednesday is the one-year anniversary of Senator Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democrats, and his opponents were laying the groundwork Tuesday for their own brands of celebration. Primary opponent Joe Sestak will be giving what his campaign is billing as a “major speech” in Washington. And while the “news peg” is clearly Specter’s party-switch, the campaign said Sestak will also “set the record straight on his 31-year record of distinguished service in the Navy,” a reference to Specter’s recent attack ad citing a report that Sestak’s exit from the Pentagon came because he created a “poor command climate.”

Republican Pat Toomey, for his part, won’t be holding any big events, but his campaign sent reporters a recap of all the recent instances of Specter’s “political opportunism.”

“Over the past year, Arlen Specter has proven time and again that the only principle that matters to him is the preservation of his own political career,” Toomey spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik said. “He has changed his position on nearly every issue, from health care, to card check, to national security. Most recently, he even changed his position on Supreme Court justices, arguing that the President should jettison all impartiality and base the decision solely on ideology. It is no surprise that voters across Pennsylvania and across the political spectrum are rejecting Specter’s blatant opportunism in favor of Pat Toomey’s principled fiscal responsibility and commonsense solutions.”

Meanwhile, there were more endorsements in the Democratic primary for governor. Elected officials in Lawrence County backed Dan Onorato, with County Commissioner Steve Craig calling him “the only candidate who knows what it takes to create a climate where businesses want to stay and grow.” Onorato was also endorsed by County Commissioner Richard DeBlasio and New Castle Mayor Anthony Mastrangelo.

Onorato’s western Pennsylvania rival, Auditor General Jack Wagner, was endorsed by the local firefighters union in Pittsburgh. “It is an honor to support someone like you who will support workers and their rights,” Joseph King, president of the Pittsburgh Fire Fighters I.A.F.F. Local No. 1, said in a statement. “We support your vision for Pennsylvania and know that you are the right person to make it happen. We know that electing someone with your background of hard work and integrity will lead this state to success.”

And Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper (D-3) is once again being targeted. Politico reports that Campaign for Working Families, a pro-life group led by former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, is spending $2 million on advertising, much of it to target pro-life Democrats who supported the newly-enacted health care reform law, Dahlkemper among them. Specter is also being targeted.

April 27, 2010 at 9:49 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Arlen Specter, Dan Onorato, Jack Wagner, Joe Sestak, Kathy Dahlkemper, PA-3, Pat Toomey

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