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Specter, Sestak Agree: PA Tough for Obama

By Ali Carey, Contributing Writer

It’s a somewhat familiar trend: Pa. Democrat says President Obama will have a tougher time in the Keystone state this year compared to 2008, RNC and PAGOP forward the press clips.

This week, they highlighted two former rivals: Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak.

Peter Nichoas of the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that a loss in Pennsylvania “would all but doom the president’s reelection hopes.”

Tuesday, in an interview with the Morning Call, former U.S. Senator Arlen Specter said:

“I think it is tough, I think Pennsylvania’s economy is hurting.”

Specter argued that Obama’s weakened support in Pa. is a result of his disengagement in the state’s issues.

“There are thousands of jobs at stake,” Specter said. “(Obama) has to become engaged in issues like that if he wants to carry the state…that money was taken from us and he hasn’t done anything about it.”

“He’s going to have to have his attention to practical matters like that if he’s going to be re-elected,” Specter concluded.

Pennsylvania Democrat and former U.S. candidate who lost to Republican Pat Toomey in 2010, Joe Sestak, agrees Obama has a hard road ahead of him in Pa.

“The race is going to be a nail-biter for him, particularly if Gov. Romney,”is his opponent, Sestak said.

As for Obama’s presidency and the partisan gridlock in Washington, Sestak said, “There was a promise that this wasn’t going to be a red-blue battle — that it was going to be something different. It never came about, and people have a right to be disappointed. It is tough, sure, but he’s the captain of the ship.”

2 Responses

  1. The biggest problem Obama faces is that the GOP has managed to distort his record and the fact through years of misinformation on FoxNews and other right-wing outlets.

    The second problem in PA is that Sestak’s campaign hurt the state Democratic party as Joe also attempted to throw Obama under the bus with job gate.

    The good news is that Obama will have plenty of money to get his message out. The Republican candidates are the weakest in memory. Also (as I’ve said for a while) if the unemployment number goes down to 8% and there is steep improvement, Obama will win on a “stay the course” message.

  2. This a a very straight-forward pragmatic assessment of the road ahead in 2012. I agree that Pennsylvania and Ohio have issues that Obama better roll up his sleeves on. There is no doubt that the Republican candidates are pathetic… which I believe will avert a “Jimmy Carter-like” loss. The unemployment fell to 8.6 with 14 percent of the job gained in western pa. If those unemployment numbers continue to trend downward, so will their candidates chances.

    I don’t think that the argument that “the alternatives are pathetic” will not be enough to get anyone elected. You need to make the case for your re-election based on your performance. The sleazy part is in some instances the republicans have rejected traditionally bi-partisan policies that could better the lives of Pennsylvanians in favor of political gridlock for political gain.

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