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By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA Staff Writer
roarty@politicspa.com

The man who has said repeatedly that Joe Sestak would “get killed” in his primary race against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter admitted Tuesday he’s surprised the congressman has suddenly, according to at least two polls, taken a lead against the incumbent.

“I am surprised,” Governor Ed Rendell said during a Tuesday press conference in the Capitol. “I am surprised at the depth of the anti-incumbency feeling.”

The state’s chief executive, himself an avid Specter backer, cited the recent loss of three-term incumbent U.S. Sen.  Bob Bennett of Utah in a GOP convention vote as evidence of how restless the electorate is with incumbents. The senator won’t even be placed on the ballot in the GOP primary in the state, to be held in June.

Specter, the state’s longest serving public official, is “shouldering some of those blows” from voters fed up with incumbents, he said.

Rendell has said he didn’t think Sestak stood a chance aganist Specter, the man who gave him his first job in the Philadelphia district attorney’s office, because of the incumbent’s deep ties across the state to an array of local officials. Even though the senator was a Republican for 29 years, the senator had worked with Democrats so closely during that many of them would welcome him with open arms, said Rendell.

His predictions didn’t seem far off the mark as recently as a month ago, when polls showed Specter winning by as many as 20 points. But the congressman has made up remarkable ground in recent weeks as his campaign has aggressively hit the airwaves statewide with ads that highlight Sestak’s miliatry service and take shots at Specter’s Republican past.

The governor still predicted Specter would come out on top in his battle with Sestak, saying thathis support from President Obama will be the difference.

“I think just as President Bush was helpful in Senator Specter’s race 6 years ago, I think President Obama is going to be helpful this time,” he said.

The governor added that he’s recorded a robo-call for Specter and cut a radio ad for him Tuesday.

2 Responses

  1. The fact that Rendell and TJ Rooney are so out of touch with PA Democrats comes as no surprise at all to me. They don’t listen. Maybe this will give a wake up call to Senator Casey that he should listen to his constituents more closely. The feeling isn’t really anti-incumbant. It may be a reaction to the strenght of Rendell and Rooney’s attacks on a viable candidate. Joe Sestak would be good for PA and they never considered that. Specter should have been encouraged to retire with the accolades he was due for his independent service to the state. Now I’m hoping he just retires.

  2. Simply another example of a politician in Pa. who is out of touch with how the common man feels today. This quote says it all from the gov: “I am surprised at the depth of the anti-incumbency feeling.”
    ALL POLITICIANS put themselves above the constituents they are supposed to serve. It’s that simple.

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