GOP Voters Rejecting Specter

From Thomas Fitzgerald at the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter trails a lesser-known challenger in the 2010 Republican primary, an indication of the political hit he has taken in his party's base for giving crucial support to the Democratic-drafted $787 billion economic stimulus, according to a new poll.
Former Rep. Pat Toomey, a conservative leader from the Lehigh Valley, leads Specter 41 to 27 percent in a hypothetical matchup in a Quinnipiac University survey released today.
Although Toomey came within 17,000 votes of beating Specter in the 2004 GOP primary, the poll found that 73 percent of Republican voters did not know enough about the likely challenger to form an opinion of him. Seventy-eight percent of all voters had not heard of Toomey.
"Pennsylvania Republicans are so unhappy with Sen. Specter's vote for President Barack Obama's stimulus package and so-called pork barrel spending that they are voting for a former congressman they hardly know," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Toomey came close last time and has strong conservative backing, but his challenge could be fractured if more Republicans crowd into the primary and split the anti-Specter vote."
Specter's support for the stimulus won 87 percent to 6 percent approval among Democrats; and 56 percent to 38 percent support among independents. Republican voters disapprove of that vote by a whopping 70 percent to 25 percent.
Overall, voters approve of the job Specter is doing 52 percent to 33 percent, boosted by strong support from Democrats and independents. That was nearly reversed among Republicans, however, with 36 percent approving Specter's performance and 52 percent disapproving.
Quinnipiac surveyed 1,056 Pennsylvania voters by telephone from March 19 through March 23. Results are subject to a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points; the survey includes 423 Republicans, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.

Specter Against Card Check

From Americans for Tax Reform:
Senator Specter has confirmed to ATR that he will vote against both cloture and passage on the Employee Free Choice Act (also known as “card check” or the employee NO choice act). His vote is critical and this a major victory for freedom, as well as a stunning defeat for the other side.
Yes, the good news is that Specter is against this stupid piece of legislation.
The bad news is that he ever even considered voting for it.

Specter Support Dwindling

From Rasmussen and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Senator Arlen Specter is one of only three Republicans to support the economic stimulus bill in Congress, and the latest Rasmussen Reports survey in Pennsylvania shows that his position is costing him support back home.
Just 31percent of Keystone State voters say are more likely to vote for Specter because of his position on the stimulus package while 40 percent are less likely to do so. A look inside the numbers shows the problem for Specter may be even more significant. Fifty-eight percent of Republican voters in the state are less likely to vote for Specter. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, just 27 percent are more likely to support the long-time incumbent while 48% are less likely to do so.
These numbers are not surprising given the partisan response to the stimulus bill itself. Nationwide, support for the stimulus legislation increased following President Obama’s nationally televised press conference earlier this week. Still, the legislation is perceived as being what Democrats want rather than a bipartisan product.
In Pennsylvania, 69 percent of Republicans oppose the package while 73 percent of Democrats favor it. Those not affiliated with either major party are evenly divided. That partisan divide places Specter in a difficult position. Even though Specter has aligned himself with the president and other Democrats on the stimulus, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has announced that the Pennsylvania Republican is one of their top targets for the 2010 election cycle.
Specter won re-election in 2004 by a 53 percent to 42 percent margin. However, Specter barely survived a conservative primary challenge from then-Congressman Pat Toomey. Even though he had the support of the state’s Republican establishment, Specter was able to defeat Toomey only by two points, 51 percent to 49 percent.
Overall, Pennsylvania voters support the stimulus measure by a 47 percent to 41 percent margin. Still, 52 percent say the legislation is at least somewhat likely to make things worse instead of better.

Specter Wavers, NOT!

From Susan Jones at CNS News:
“We are not going to let the federal government monitor what doctors do,” Sen. Arlen Specter told Fox News on Tuesday.
Specter, one of only three Republicans to support the Democrats’ stimulus/spending bill, was responding to growing concerns over health care provisions buried deep in the bill. One provision creates a National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, “designed to monitor your treatments, to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective,” as a commentary on the Bloomberg news wire reported on Monday.
Specter told Fox News, “If Bloomberg has pointed out a potential problem…there will be clarification to avoid having the government meddle in what doctors do.” The Senate bill provides $3 billion to computerize health records to cut costs and reduce medical errors. It also allots $1.1 billion to various federal health agencies “to evaluate the relative effectiveness of different health care services and treatment options,” the bill’s summary says.
Specter said the provision was intended to “provide technology” – to computerize the health records of all Americans. He said the government should not be in the business of making decisions on patients’ treatment.
Specter said one of the “big problems” with the stimulus bill is, “Why the rush? Why are we wedded to [a Feb. 13 deadline for passage]?” Specter noted that Congress never held hearings on the bill, and that has created problems. “This is one of a number of provisions that has popped up that we have to revise and be very careful about,” he said.
Specter said he has protested the rush to judgment, but “the only answer we get is that the situation is so dire, such an emergency, we have to act.”
Specter, asked if he would now put a stop to the bill or at least slow it down, indicated that he would not. “Listen, this legislation is a bitter pill to swallow. But we are facing a situation where the current economic problems could turn into another depression like 1929.”
He said he would not change his “yes” vote. “We will get this provision clarified. I’ve made a commitment, and I’m not going to go back on my word and on a commitment.
But when we find problems of this potential, we can cure them without upsetting the whole apple cart.”

Ingraham Nails Specter

From Jeff Poor at NewsBusters:
It's a question we've all been waiting to hear answered. Unfortunately, it took a conservative talk radio host to ask it and didn't come from the mainstream media.
In an interview with Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, Pa., on Feb. 9, talk show host Laura Ingraham asked why he and Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are the only three out of 229 Republican members of Congress to support the stimulus. She inquired if it might have had something to do with being invited to the White House by President Barack Obama.
"Is it nice to be wined and dined at the White House?" Ingraham asked. "And, you're treated pretty well when you're a Republican bucking other Republicans, right Senator?"
Specter told Ingraham he wasn't being "wined and dined" by the Obama White House. Specter wasn't on the guest list of one infamous White House party that included several Republican and Democrat members of Congress, which included cocktails and wagyu beef. However, Specter did attend a Super Bowl party hosted by the White House on Feb. 1 as the only Republican member in attendance.
"Now let's get off it Laura," Specter replied. "I'm not drinking any wine at the White House and I don't dine at the White House. If the president wants to talk to me - I talk to him and I make my own independent judgment. Don't give me the wine and dine baloney young lady."
Ingraham challenged Specter again by asking him if that had any effect on his position on the stimulus, which he outlined in a Feb. 9 Washington Post op-ed.
"Absolutely not, anymore than talking to anybody else," Specter said. "He's the president and I talk to him. I talked to people who were opposed to it and talk to everybody. I got a pretty good record, Laura for making up my own mind."
According to Specter, the legislation will create jobs immediately in his state and cited Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and a mayor of "a major city" as evidence.
"Laura, we have a big chunk of this money going to roads, highways and mass transit," Specter said. "I talked to the governor of my state and he said we could do it in nine months. And I said, ‘That's really not good enough.' And he said, ‘If we really twist and turn we can cut it back to six months. And I talked to the mayor of a major city this morning that has a parking plot going up, which is out of money and the work can go forward this afternoon."
"And there are projects, shovel-ready, which can be put to good use immediately and put people to work," Specter said.