Instapundit reports on some polling that has him beating both Sestak and Specter. My advice to Pat Toomey would be to play the middle. Pennsylvanians tend to reject extreme viewpoints, on both sides of the political spectrum. That’s how you get pro-life and pro-gun Democrats, and Republicans like Specter and Tom Ridge, who not many people would call arch conservatives.
My instincts tell me that Joe Sestak is too far to the left, and too egomaniacal to appeal to a great many Pennsylvanians, but that Pennsylvanians are also kind of tired of Arlen. Given that Arlen’s been making more than a few faux pas interacting with constituents, and generally pissing everyone off, I wouldn’t say Sestak doesn’t have a chance of knocking him off, but I think it’s unlikely he’ll beat Arlen in the primary. If it’s Arlen v. Pat, I think Pat has a good chance, but he has to be careful to avoid the problems that Rick Santorum created for himself. If Toomey runs as a fiscal hawk, I think he has a chance, and I don’t think his pro-life position hurts him that much in Pennsylvania. But being a Republican does, in a state that’s been Blue for a while now in statewide elections. He should distance himself from the party establishment, and sell himself as his own man. It’s a careful balancing act he will have to play, but I think he can run as a conservative candidate and win. He just has to focus on the parts of the conservative agenda that motivate Pennsylvanians, but avoid going so far he loses the middle.
I think another issue that Rick had was that he pushed for Arlen over Toomey, so when Rick came back up he lost a lot of the ground support from the Toomey voters. Rick pissed off the middle ground by running right and then pissed off the right ground by demanding that we keep Arlen.
Greta made a big deal about Santorum visiting Iowa. I really hope he doesn’t end up being the Republicans big hope…
Nobody in Pennsylvania even considers Santorum politically relevant as a candidate, why would the GOP in the rest of the country? If he wants to visit Iowa to rah-rah for some cause, inspire Republicans who do like him, or just start paving the way to be a higher profile surrogate in that state, good for him.
It appears to me that Sestak is using those three stars he had on his collar as an ace-in-the-hole. Since most career Naval Officers are out of the day to day loop when they pick up O-5 and O-6 unless it is a Command at Sea, they are on a staff somewhere. Staff types are viewed by the guys who really do the daily work as out of touch. The guys who run things daily in the Navy are………..First Class Petty Officers and Chief Petty Officers. Ask a few who served with Sestak and the answer will probably be laced with explitives that are not repeatble in mixed company.
I will give the Admiral his dues as Flag rank is hard to achieve, even for Academy grads. But without guys like me he was nothing.
But Sestak says all members of the military are Democrats, even if they don’t know it. They all want big government in their lives.
“But Sestak says all members of the military are Democrats, even if they don’t know it. They all want big government in their lives.”
Yes, but only to the extent that Big Gov’t is their present employer. As a VOLUNTEER (not conscripted) military. Otherwise, most military that I ever knew (as an enlisted NCO) were conservatives or Republicans (back when that name meant something positive).
I was 18 the last time I voted democratic in any election. I voted for McGovern. I was 18 an din a union household. Lesson learned after I had been on active duty for a few years. If you talk to those career members in paygrades E-6 and up, give the results to Sestak. Believe me, we are a conservative group. And in my case, I always tell them that the best CinC I had in 20 years was Ronald Wilson Reagan. If they are hardcore union types, stand by for some amazing reactions.