By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

Add one more name to the growing list of officials, both Democrat and Republican, publicly asking Joe Sestak and the White House to give more details about the alleged job offer: Ed Rendell.

Pennsylvania Avenue reported Wednesday that the state’s chief executive said both parties need to explain what happened when, according to Sestak at least, the White House offered the congressman a job that would have prevented him from taking on incumbent Arlen Specter.

“I actually think the White House and Joe Sestak should be a little more detailed and put this behind them,” said Rendell, in Washington for the day attending a news conference.

The Morning Call political blog said the governor doesn’t think anything illegal occurred or any bribe offered, only that the president’s administration inquired if the former Navy admiral wanted to do something with his “terrific background in the military.”

Rendell is the latest official to ask either Sestak or the White House to give more details about the encounter, which administration lawyers have said was legal. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a close ally of President Obama, asked the Democratic Senate nominee from Pennsylvania on Tuesday to  “make it clear” what happened. Sestak’s general election opponent, Republican nominee Pat Toomey, has made similar calls, as have a raft of editorial boards both in-state and out-of-state.

The congressman, who seemed to accidentally say during a TV interview in February that the White House offered him a job, has steadfastly refused to answer any further questions about the deal other than re-iterating one was made. Although the issue all but disappeared in the months before the primary against Specter, it resurfaced in a big way on Sunday during an interview on “Meet the Press.”

Since then, the controversy has gained significant traction nationally mostly because of the involvement of President Obama’s administration. But in Pennsylvania, it’s been the first major issue of the race between Sestak and Toomey and has, in the space of a few days, removed all of the focus from the congressman’s triumphant 8-point victory over Specter just last week.

As Chris Cillizza of “The Fix” wrote Wednesay, “… rather than riding a wave of momentum following his toppling of Specter eight days ago, he has been put on the defensive by the allegations of wrongdoing.”

Sestak’s handling of the controversy might also raise old questions about aptitude of his campaign, which was ultimately vindicated last week but had been criticized for months that it was consistently outmaneuvered by Specter. He also faces losing the shine of a political-outisder candidate the longer he’s involved with a story mired in old-time politics. The congressman’s image as an outsider, and the contrast that presented with the 30-year incumbent Specter, was perhaps the biggest factor in his primary victory.

With the deluge of media attention unlikely to go anywhere until more details are revaled, the campaign will now likely have to answer the question if it ever wants to shift the debate to another subject.