home

PA-Sen: Specter Leads Toomey In Latest Q-Poll

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Other Politics
Posted on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 01:15:36 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

Q-Poll:

Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter leads Democratic primary challenger, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak 53 - 29 percent and has pushed ahead of Republican Pat Toomey 49 - 42 percent in a general election matchup, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today, up from a 44 - 44 percent tie December 18. In a battle of the unknowns, Toomey leads Sestak 39 - 36 percent with 24 percent undecided.

Rep. Joe Sestak has done both progressives and the Democratic Party a great favor - he has pushed Senator Specter to take progressive positions that have helped him politically.

Speaking for me only

< Harkin: I Will Vote Against PO But I Am PO Supporter | If The House Votes For The Stand Alone Senate Health Bill >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    PA-Sen: Specter Leads Toomey In Latest Q-Poll | 19 comments (19 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

    Indeed (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by andgarden on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 01:25:11 PM EST
    I'll tell you what: I still haven't decided how I'm voting in this primary. I have to decide whether I can forgive Specter for Clarence Thomas.

    Wow! That's some memory! (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Demi Moaned on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 02:36:10 PM EST
    I've had a grudge with Specter about that, but you were just a young child then, weren't you?

    I don't live in PA, but I'd feel the same dilemma if I did. Specter's been behind some nefarious things since Anita Hill's testimony. Does anyone remember that his office was connected to the Patriot Act revisions that allowed for the US attorney firings?

    OTOH, Specter's been better than a lot of long-term Democrats since Sestak's challenge. I just wonder how he'll behave once he's safely re-elected.

    Parent

    Thomas hasn't gone away (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by andgarden on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 06:34:26 PM EST
    and he's just representative of many other outrageous Republican ideologues whose installations onto the bench Specter facilitated.

    Parent
    If he wins reelection, what's to say he'll retain (none / 0) (#15)
    by jawbone on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 08:49:00 PM EST
    these progressives stances?

    Parent
    What do you have against Sestak? (none / 0) (#6)
    by ruffian on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 02:55:55 PM EST
    I'm not that up to speed, but it seems like if you like Specter because his positions have become more like Sestak, why not vote for Sestak in the primary? Can't hurt, and rewards Sestak for at least staying in it against the odds.  

    Parent
    All other things being roughly equal (none / 0) (#10)
    by andgarden on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 06:35:52 PM EST
    I would prefer a candidate with better GE numbers and a Senator with more seniority.

    And Specter has done a pretty excellent job of equalizing those other things.

    Parent

    It's good to see a down-the-line progressive (none / 0) (#2)
    by MKS on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 01:56:43 PM EST
    like Specter ahead of Toomey.  Specter is more of a reliable vote than Bayh or the other Conservadems....

    Perhaps, that is because... (none / 0) (#7)
    by christinep on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 05:38:18 PM EST
    he lives in Pennsylvania and not Indiana. Being originally from PA and later going to Indiana (IU), I can tell you there definitely is a difference.

    Parent
    I think Arlen is very smart (none / 0) (#8)
    by MKS on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 05:59:54 PM EST
    and knows how to save his as*.....

    Parent
    Interesting (none / 0) (#3)
    by lilburro on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 02:09:57 PM EST
    This does show you what a turd Pat Toomey is.  But PA is less known for being "true blue" than Massachusetts...has my home state perhaps not succumbed to the teabaggers?  Or is this a "Specter loves the unions" thing?

    Unions are key to Specter (none / 0) (#4)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 02:16:00 PM EST
    Especially in the primary.

    Parent
    From your lips to Bennet's ears (none / 0) (#11)
    by msobel on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 07:19:53 PM EST
    I see the same dynamic for Bennet who is not pushing the public option and claiming he was for it all along.

    Remember on 9/1/09 on KCFR him being wishy washy on the public option

    correction: NOW pushing the public option (none / 0) (#12)
    by msobel on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 07:20:43 PM EST


    Parent
    Funny thing (none / 0) (#13)
    by christinep on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 07:42:24 PM EST
    As noted immediately above, I have an acquaintance with both Pennsylvania and Indiana. Most of my adult life, tho, has been lived in Colorado. You may be right about Bennet. At the very least, he stays one step ahead of the opposition--quite bright, genial, engaging, etc. Another note: In the environmental arena, he has sponsored a very important bill that would alter the 1872 Mining Act in such way as to favor the environment via limitation on expansion and royalties increased for longtime operation on federal land--this is major from an environmental perspective and the reality of Colorado mining operations (and, it is inside-the-environmental-beltway in that it is not splashy and headline-grabbing.)

    Parent
    For the moment... (none / 0) (#14)
    by lentinel on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 07:49:22 PM EST
    Rep. Joe Sestak has done both progressives and the Democratic Party a great favor - he has pushed Senator Specter to take progressive positions...

    But - once elected, you know that Specter will revert.
    He is a waste of time and space.

    I'm with ya. (none / 0) (#19)
    by Chuck0 on Wed Mar 03, 2010 at 11:51:50 AM EST
    I'm voting in Sestak in the primary. Will vote Specter in the general if it's twixt him and Toomey. T

    Parent
    Can Sestak run for the House if he losed primary - (none / 0) (#16)
    by jawbone on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 08:51:17 PM EST
    Or is that an open seat, ripe for the picking?

    I was so sure I had no typos in that short comment (none / 0) (#17)
    by jawbone on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 08:52:02 PM EST
    Losed = loses.

    Parent
    Specte "Defend Torture Victims' Rights" (none / 0) (#18)
    by jbindc on Wed Mar 03, 2010 at 09:46:38 AM EST
    Link

    Today, the United States Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case whose outcome will either uphold or nullify the rights of victims of foreign torture, including U.S. soldiers, to sue under American law.

    The Court should take this opportunity to reaffirm America's commitment to human rights and its opposition to torture.

    The case involves, among others, two Somalian refugees, now American citizens, who fled the brutal Siad Barre regime in the 1990s. They sued a former official of the regime living in Alexandria, Va. The Barre regime was one of the most violent and repressive regimes in the world.

    Bashe Abdi Yousuf, a young businessman, claims to have been tortured and kept in solitary confinement for six years. Aziz Mohamed Deria is representing his father and brother who were allegedly kidnapped by the regime and disappeared.

    They are suing Mohamed Samantar, a current resident of Fairfax, VA, and former Minister of Defense of Somalia under Siad Barre. Under Samantar's watch, the regime was responsible for the killing, rape, and torture of tens of thousands of Somalis. After the Barre regime fell in the early 1990's, Samantar, fled to Europe and then to the United States.

    The Somalians, who are represented by the Center for Justice and Accountability, are seeking redress under the 1991 Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which bars safe haven in this country for foreign practitioners of torture by subjecting them to U.S. laws against torture.

    Samantar's defense is that as a former government official, he is protected by doctrine of sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.



    PA-Sen: Specter Leads Toomey In Latest Q-Poll | 19 comments (19 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment