Cue the Nancy Sinatra music.
"These boots were made for walkin' ..."
And that's just what Joe Sestak is going to do.
Our former congressman and unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate - to the surprise of absolutely no one - made it official this week. He wants another shot at the guy who edged him back in a very tight race in 2010. That would be now Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
Sestak did kind of an odd thing after he lost that battle.
Basically, he kept running. For the last five years, Sestak has been constantly criss-crossing the state, increasing his name recognition and reaching out to voters. He even took a job teaching a class at Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh to give himself a presence in the western part of the state.
Oddly enough, before he ever gets a shot at a rematch with Toomey, Sestak will have to convince Democrats that he's their guy.
He's got his work cut out for him.
A lot of Democrats are cool to the guy who was the darling of Democrats when he ousted 20-year incumbent 7th District Congressman Curt Weldon.
But Sestak always seemed to have his eye on a bigger prize.
And when Arlen Specter - with the full support of Democratic leaders - switched parties, raining on Sestak's parade, the admiral didn't exactly salute the GOP turncoat.
Instead, Sestak decided to take on Specter in a bitter primary race, in the process infuriating party leaders from President Barack Obama, to former Philly mayor and Gov. Ed Rendell, to Dem powerbroker Congressman Bob Brady.
Sestak won that battle, knocking off Specter, but he eventually lost the war to Toomey.
More importantly, he may have mortally wounded his standing with Democratic party leaders.
Brady in particular does not even try to hide his disdain for Sestak.
"Ssestak's not scaring anyone," Brady said before Sestak made his announcement this week. "He's not clearing the field because he's running."
Even more emphatic was former state Dem chairman T.J. Rooney, who had this blunt assessment of the party's chances of beating Toomey with Sestak as their guy.
"In my estimation, if Joe Sestak is the nominee in 2016 for U.S. Senate, we will once again lose to Pat Toomey," Rooney said.
Ouch!
It seems Dems would love just about anyone to step up and challenge Sestak in the primary. So far, however, no one has. Montgomery County Commission Josh Shapiro has been mentioned, but is giving no indication he will run. Same goes for Philly D.A. Seth Williams.
Sestak made a lot of enemies when he decided to go his own way, challenging Specter and ignoring the wishes of the party leaders. After he snagged the nomination, Sestak continued to vex party leaders with his independent streak.
After his Wednesday announcement, Sestak took off an old pair of vintage Reebok sneakers he was wearing and laced up some combat boots, saying he would walk 422 miles from one end of the state to the other to take his message to the voters of Pennsylvania.
He might want to take that message to Democratic leaders while he's at it.
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