{"id":287,"date":"2009-05-01T15:28:09","date_gmt":"2009-05-01T19:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/05\/01\/specter-vs-sestak\/"},"modified":"2009-05-01T15:28:09","modified_gmt":"2009-05-01T19:28:09","slug":"specter-vs-sestak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2009\/05\/01\/specter-vs-sestak\/","title":{"rendered":"Specter vs. Sestak?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid raise money for Arlen Specter\u2019s 2010 Senate campaign, I can\u2019t really imagine second termer Rep. Joe Sestak running successfully for the nomination.  But I\u2019d be curious about the back story here<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

\n

The House Democrat said he would look closely at Specter\u2019s policy statements and how he votes over the next few months before deciding whether to take him on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s he running for?\u201d said Sestak. \u201cThere are critical issues facing our nation, from healthcare to how do we take care of education.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, if he\u2019s for the right things we might end up with the right candidate but for me it\u2019s a wait-and-see.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s play politics.  Sestak is the voice of the Democratic base over the next year keeping Specter\u2019s feet to the fire.  If the Dems were smart, they\u2019d let Sestak keep a high profile and play the maverick.  He likes the role.  <\/p>\n

\n

Sestak is beginning to position himself as an outsider, a candidate not in lockstep with the wishes of party leaders in Washington.<\/p>\n

The lawmaker recalled that when he first ran for Congress, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had already settled on another candidate and tried to stop him from running.<\/p>\n

Sestak said he told political strategists in Washington at the time that he did not think he needed their permission to run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this just comes down to what\u2019s best for Pennsylvanians, and boy are we independent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If in a year from now Specter has been more of a problem than a help, Obama and Reid can back off on their pledge to help Specter at all costs.<\/p>\n

But I suspect, all they want is Specter\u2019s vote on key issues, like this one<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid raise money for Arlen Specter\u2019s 2010 Senate campaign, I can\u2019t really imagine second termer Rep. Joe Sestak running successfully for the nomination.  But I\u2019d be curious about the back story here.  The House Democrat said he would look closely at Specter\u2019s policy statements and how he… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}