You might say Pat Toomey is going to be in the crosshairs today.
The freshman Republican senator from Pennsylvania is at the center of a breakthrough deal on gun control to wide background checks. A deal is expected to be announced later this morning.
It's not the first time Toomey has made news on the national stage. He first gained notice for his budget and economic views. President Obama picked him to serve on that super committee that failed to reach a deal on budget cuts last fall. The failure was despite the clear willingness on the part of Toomey to reach across the aisle.
But that spotlight pales next to the heat that will be generated today by Toomey's bipartisan effort to reach an agreement on background checks as part of the national debate on gun control.
Toomey has bene working with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of Michigan on a deal. It is expected to be announced later this morning.
Toomey no doubt will be branded as a traitor for this change in his position by those who loathe any increase in gun control. He's already being villified on social media. He will be lauded as a moderate and a voice of common sense by those who have been seeking increases in gun control since a madman took 26 lives - including 20 children - in a shooting rampage in a school in Newtown, Conn., last December.
You can read the latest on the gun control debate and Toomey's role in the breakghrough here.
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