Dems press Specter to switch sides By Aaron Blake Posted: 03/16/09 08:14 PM [ET] Democrats want Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in their ranks — and they’ve been sending in their big guns to lobby him to make the switch.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said he, Vice President Biden and Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) have tried to get the longtime senator and centrist Republican to come to their side of aisle but that so far he won’t budge. Specter, who faces a tough GOP primary in his reelection bid, started his career as a Democrat. He was a prominent Philadelphia lawyer active in Democratic politics before he switched sides and became the city’s district attorney on the Republican ticket. Rendell told a Northeast cable station that he, Biden and Casey have all tried to convince Specter to switch parties. In the interview with the Regional News Network, Rendell also said Specter would be a shoo-in as a Democrat. “We’ve tried — myself, Sen. Casey, Vice President Biden,” Rendell said. “We’ve tried to talk him into it, but he’s bound and determined to stay a Republican. He doesn’t want to see Republican moderates vanish from the earth.” In response, Specter’s office referred to a recent radio interview in which Specter said he would run with the GOP. “I’m prepared to say that I’m running as a Republican,” he told conservative host Michael Smerconish. Rendell said the welcome would be warm for Specter, who has spurned his party on the recent stimulus package and could do so again on the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as “card-check.” “The Democrats in the Senate would welcome him,” Rendell told the station. “I think he’d be basically unopposed for the Democratic nomination, and I think he’d win 60, 65 percent of the vote in the general election.” Democrats have no strong front-runner for Specter’s seat at this point in the 2010 cycle. If the senator switched parties during the 111th Congress, he could be the 60th vote for Democrats in the Senate, a number needed to end debate on legislation. Biden’s office declined to comment Monday, and Casey’s office said Casey has never lobbied Specter privately. Rendell’s office on Monday confirmed the governor’s comments, but said that Rendell might have been referring to more casual lobbying efforts by other Democrats. “The governor has had conversations — both public and private — trying to urge Sen. Specter to switch parties, and each and every time, he has received a resounding ‘no’ in response,” Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. Ardo agreed with Casey’s office that Rendell might have been referring to an event last month at which the governor and Biden joked publicly with Specter about switching parties. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WebTV Dawgs/Dittos" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/WebTV-Pals -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
