I have a funny feeling about tomorrow’s primary in Pennsylvania. My gut is telling me that incumbent U.S. Senator Arlen Specter will lose to Rep. Joe Sestak but it won’t matter. Why? It won’t matter because Arlen thinks he is smarter than the electorate and he will simply not give up the seat just because of a pesky primary defeat.
We can blame Joe Lieberman for this contingency plan of Specter’s. In 2006, Lieberman lost the Connecticut Democratic primary against Ned Lamont. When he lost Lieberman said this, “I’m a loyal Democrat, but I have loyalties that are greater than those to my party, and that’s my loyalty to my state and my country.” I can definitely see Specter making a similar statement either later this week or as soon as Wednesday morning.
Webster’s Dictionary offers this definition of the word Specter – “something that haunts or perturbs the mind.” The voters in the primary election of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party may vote to replace Specter as their selected candidate tomorrow; however, I have a eerie feeling that this ghost will be haunting and perturbing Pennsylvania voters through November’s general election.
Faculty, Department of Political Science, Towson University. Graduate from Liberty University Seminary.