Can I get a huge "WTF Chorus"" on this: PA Senate: Specter 40 Tweety 27

[Perky]

November 11, 2008PA-Sen: Specter vs Matthews (PPP-10/31-11/2)By Eric Dienstfrey

Public Policy Polling (D)
10/31-11/2/08; 1,529 LV, 2.5%
Mode: IVR

Pennsylvania
2010 Sen: Arlen Specter (R-i) 40, MSNBC host Chris Matthews (D) 27


http://www.pollster.com/blogs/pasen_specter_vs_matthews_ppp1.php

[Perky]

1. WTF??

[lapfog_1]

2. HA! - n/t

[EconomicLiberal]

3. Keeping his margins of defeat respectable in Philly is the only reason Specter keeps his seat.

Matthews has some connections in Philly. Maybe he could finally send Arlen home.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. How does that compare to Coleman vs. Franken

Back when Franken was still seen as just a TV personality?

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. Incumbent at 40% = loss. n/t

Surely there's a better Dem that Tweety to run against Specter.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Harris Wofford!

But he's up there in age though. He had served out Heinz's term when Heinz was killed and was a surrogate for Obama during the election. Actually I'd love to see Wofford somewhere in Obama's administration.

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. Wofford actually beat former Governor Dick Thornburgh in 1991 for the Senate Seat after

he was appointed to it.

But at 82, he may be getting a little old to mount the type of campaign necessary to beat Specter.

[Ian David]

12. Certainly just about any Democrat with a pulse would be better than Tweety. On the other hand...

... it will get that douchebag off our televisions.

[Cosmocat]

14. it certainly is VERY problematic for Spector ...

40% from the incumbant NOW, not even getting into the fact that there is no officially stated opponent.

Frankly, given that Mathews hasn't announced, his numbers aren't bad.

I will say this, I harbor GREAT resentment against Mathews - his finding his inner liberal the last two months does not in any way shape or form even BEGIN to make up for 7 years of mocking and marginalizing Ds while sucking the rear end of the Rs in power.

I WILL work against him in the primary. Heck, if I could get the signatures I would put myself on the ballot just to spite the worm.

BUT, his GREATEST talent, by far is that he can see the sea changes, and despite the MSM trying its best to make Pa out to be Alabama, it has been trending blue at the state level. He has the name from being in the media, and did apparently run a pretty tough campaign back in the days for congress in the Philly area.

Spector isn't horrible, except I resent him for TALKING big the last couple years, then rolling over like every other R in terms of holding Bushco accountable.

I would MUCH rather it be pretty much anyone other than Mathews, but if he breaks the primary, I won't work against him.

[AllentownJake]

6. I don't think Specter is running again

He's sick and he always has to bat down a conservative primary opponent most of the time by getting dems to switch parties to vote for him in the primaries. I don't think he has the campaigning in him he had in 2004 to do it.

Look for Charlie Dent the current congressman from the PA 15th district to be the GOP candidate. He's trouble and a very hard worker and campaigner.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. He has had health problems in the past and

2004 was the first time that a primary opponent got more than 35% of the vote against him since the first time he was elected.

[AllentownJake]

10. Pat Toomey is coming back if he runs again already stated his intentions

Shamed that man one time represented my district.
Democrats switched parties to vote for Specter in that primary. Probably was the only thing that saved him.

[Hippo_Tron]

21. Toomey vs Specter could be a battle for the "soul of the party"

There's going to be a faction that wants to move to the middle and a faction that wants to move right and Pennsylvania is a battleground state. The problem for Democrats is that recruiting a candidate is hard when they don't know which opponent they face. Specter would be hard to take down but Toomey probably wouldn't stand a chance against Rendell or another top tier Democrat.

[AllentownJake]

27. Toomey will win this time

Unfortunately or Fortunately depending on how you look at it. Alot of the moderate GOPers left the party for the PA primary to vote for Hillary or Obama. I don't see those people going back which leaves the GOP rolls mostly filled with Toomey type of GOPers. Also Toomey will be even better funded in 2010 than he was in 2004 thanks to his connections from the Club for Growth.

If there is any kind of democratic primary for the nomination (Rendell vs. Matthews or Matthews vs. a dem congressman like Murphy or Stesak) than those former moderate GOPers who are now democrats will probably stay democrats.

Specter's health will be also an unspoken issue.

If it is Toomey he'll probably lose (PA rejected Santorum after his conservative credentials were being exposed/highlighted for a future Pres run.) Toomey will view it as a success though for taking out a RINO.

[ShadowLiberal]

32. Tooney already has VERY damaging videos to hit Specter with in a primary

I've heard from a PA insider who was once my teacher in a political science class in 2007 about this.

Tooney is DEFINITELY planning on challenging Specter again. In fact, some PA insiders believe Tooney has been trying to get current GOP Sentors to call Specter out on stuff that the GOP base will hate him for, and do it in front of the cameras in the Senate to.

Like two years ago there was one GOP senator who called out Specter for putting a pork barrel earmark in a bill for a liberal leaning political group that has endorsed Specter in the past. The two apparently got into a big fight about it that the cameras picked up (my teacher also said that you could see Harry Reid grinning at the sight of their fighting at one point in the video).

My teacher said that a lot people suspected that Tooney talked that GOP senator into getting into a fight with Specter. The video of their fight, and how it would highlight Specter giving money to liberal special interests groups would be very good attack fodder for Tooney to use against Specter in another primary run.

Specter only won his last primary battle against Tooney by like 2%, and an endorsement from George W. Bush he touted might well have saved his butt in the primary.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

7. No.

[yellowcanine]

13. I don't think tweety would be a good senator. If I were in PA I think I would vote for Specter over

him. Specter is one Republican who will likely not go along with pubbie obstructionism on judges.

[apnu]

15. We're talking about Arlin "Bark like a dog, roll over for Bush" Specter right?

He'll do exactly what GOP leadership tells him to. He'll just bitch about it and threaten not to, but when it comes time to shit or get off the pot, Specter will shit for the GOP every time.

[yellowcanine]

24. Yes well, we are also talking "Isn't Bush a "man's man" in that flight suit?" tweety.

The guy is a political whore.

[Honeycombe8]

34. But that's just a personal remark having nothing to do with policy.

That IS different, don't you think? Plus, his role as a talk show host is different than a role as a senator would be. As a talk show host that is political, his job is to entertain with substance, be a provocateur, keep the ratings up, get people to thinking, as well as inform.

Bush did look kinda sexy in his little flight suit, but we all know it was a cup thingie.

[geek tragedy]

16. Moderate R vs. Tweety--why is that a surprise?

Would you want Tweety as your Senator?

[Bucky]

17. 40% for a sitting moderate senator is not good.

But Matthews is probably not the guy to put him away. He's no Schwarzenegger; he's no Ventura.

[Perky]

18. Has tweety given any hint he might run?

[H2O Man]

28. Yes.

[Touchdown]

19. In the words of Tweety... HAAAAAA!

Actually word of Tweety.:dunce:

[Perky]

20. Ooo OOOOOOOOOOO, Tweety should run in NJ instead against Lou Dobbs,

:rofl:

[Touchdown]

22. Dobbs is running?

:puke:

[Perky]

23. There were rumors during the summer

[Exilednight]

25. I hope Tweety quits Countdown, runs- and loses. n/t

[Bonn1997]

29. Countdown? You mean Hardball

[Exilednight]

31. You are correct. I apologize. I was probably watching Countdown while I wrote that. n/t

[TheKentuckian]

26. Shoooo, I'd take Tweety (or Spectre even) for my Senator

Bunning and McConnell are beyond awful. It seems like infinity since Wendell Ford.

[Honeycombe8]

35. I have John Cornyn (puke) and Kay Bailey Hutchinson (loyal Bushite), so I'm jealous! nt

[camera obscura]

30. It's closer than the numbers make it seem

TPM wrote about it:

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/poll_matthews_running_behind_i.php

"The internals have good news and bad news for both candidates. Specter is below 50%, a bad place for an incumbent, but he's grabbing 30% of Democrats and a 41%-28% plurality among independents, indicating that he's able to draw some crossover support like he usually has in his previous races. If he can solidify the 32% of undecided GOP voters, he would basically have it made.

The good news for Matthews is that 47% of voters age 18-29 and 43% of voters age 30-45 are undecided, and those groups both went big for Barack Obama in this past election. Also, 44% of black voters say they're undecided, and 25% are for Specter -- but if they break big for Matthews as the Dem candidate, he could quickly make up some ground."

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Beacool]

36. Why would anyone want to vote for Tweety?????

I don't care what party flag he chooses to run under, I'll be glad to spend every free minute campaigning for anyone who runs against the sexist creep.