Specter vs. Sestak: Round 1

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your main event.

In this corner we have Snarlin’ Arlen Specter, longtime senior senator from Pennsylvania and newly minted Democrat.

In the other corner is Admiral Joe Sestak, second term congressman who became a local Democratic hero when he showed 20-year veteran Congressman Curt Weldon the door in 2006.

Now Sestak has his eyes on higher office. Standing in his way might be the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned Democrat again Specter.

Specter recently moved across the aisle – at least physically – when his polling data told him he likely would be hitting the exit door himself in a Republican Primary against former congressman Pat Toomey.

So Specter did what every good politician does. He turned to his survival instincts.

Voila! Specter became a Democrat again. That avoided a battle with Toomey.

And it thrilled Democrats who have courted him for years. He was welcomed by a who’s who of the party, including Gov. Ed Rendell, Vice President Joe Biden (a longtime Senate and train-riding commuter pal) and even President Barack Obama.

Nobody bothered to invite Sestak to the Specter coronation. Ever since he’s been making noise about challenging the longtime Republican.

Sestak doesn’t especially care for the way this thing got jammed down the rank-and-file’s throats by party leaders. He’s not alone in that belief. And he also has some doubt about just how much of a true Democrat Specter will be. He’s not the only one with those kind of doubts, either.

Today the two men will be in the same room when Specter arrives here on Sestak’s turf to speak to county Democrats in Marple.

He’ll be followed by Sestak.

Don’t look for much in the way of fireworks. They may not even be in the same room together.

Sestak still has not formally declared he’s running for the Senate, but he has done just about everything but say the words.

It’s going to be an uphill race. A new Rasmussen poll shows Specter continuing to enjoy a comfortable edge over Sestak in a Democratic primary, holding a 51-32 edge.

Sestak sounds undeterred.

And so we have it, a heavyweight political bout.

Round One is tonight in Marple.

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