By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA Staff Writer
roarty@politicspa.com

A day after Republican Scott Brown’s shocking victory in formerly deep-blue Massachusetts, Arlen Specter’s campaign manager said Thursday the Democratic senator will navigate an undeniably difficult climate for incumbents by emphasizing his history as an “independent voice” for Pennsylvania.

“Voters understand that he’s an independent voice for the state who has delivered for them during his time in office,” said Chris Nicholas, campaign manager. “And that’s what we’re going to stress.”

Specter had been a moderate Republican for 28 years, most famously breaking away from his party’s position when he voted for President Obama’s economic stimulus package last year. Since switching parties, he’s become a vocal advocate for many of the president’s proposals, including support for the so-called “public option” in health care reform.

Specter faces U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary on May 18, but his campaign Thursday focused its remarks on its all-but-certain Republican opponent, Pat Toomey.

Nicholas called the former Lehigh Valley congressman a “right-wing extremist” who, “unlike senator-elect Brown, isn’t a blank slate.”

The Republican victory Tuesday night likely gives the Pennsylvania GOP hope Toomey can defeat Specter in a state historically much more conservative than Massachusetts.

But Mary Isenhour, executive director of the state Democratic Party, wasn’t panicking over the special election’s results.

“You win some and you lose some,” she said. “Either way, you learn a lesson.”

Click here to read Sestak and Toomey’s reaction.

UPDATED: Specter’s legislative office released a statement Wednesday afternoon from the senator himself. The incumbent said Tuesday’s election “shows Washington must change its ways.”

Now that there 59 Democrats in the Senate, it will be indispensable for at least some bipartisanship to deal with the serious problems confronting America: creating jobs; reducing the deficit; reining in Wall Street; and stopping abusive insurance company practices like denying coverage on technicalities,” Specter said.

Tags: Arlen Specter, Joe Sestak, Pat Toomey

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 10:49 am and is filed under Miscellaneous, PA Reports, PoliticsPA Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.