Published: July 03, 2009 12:10 am      

Specter visits, says he’s prepared to campaign

Despite some heavy-hitting endorsements and more than 28 years as an incumbent, Sen. Arlen Specter is not putting his sixth election campaign on cruise control.

“I never take any election for granted,” Specter said Thursday during a visit to Dale Borough.

“It’s nice to have the support of President (Barack) Obama, Vice President (Joe) Biden, Gov. (Ed) Rendell and Sen. (Bob) Casey, but I know I have to take my case to the people of Pennsylvania.”

Specter’s key vote for Obama’s economic stimulus bill brought out strong opposition on the Republican side from conservative Rep. Pat Toomey of Lehigh County and pro-life candidate Peg Luksik of Westmont.

The situation prompted Specter to switch parties in April, but now he faces legitimate opposition on the Democratic side.

Although Rep. Joe Sestak says he will make a formal announcement in about a month, he told a Wayne County newspaper on Wednesday, “I am going to get into the race against Arlen Specter.”

Sestak is relatively unknown outside his 7th Congressional District in suburban Philadelphia, but his candidacy complicates Specter’s re-election bid.

A recent poll shows Specter’s popularity dropped among voters in both parties after his switch. Many Republicans are upset because of the switch, but some Democrats are not ready to forgive and forget.

One of those could be Rep. John Murtha of Johnstown, who stopped short of endorsing Specter on Thursday.

Sitting beside Specter for a one-hour town hall meeting in the former Brownsville Tri-County Hospital in Fayette County, Murtha lauded the senator’s expertise in the field of health care.

Specter’s seniority gives him a leadership role in the Senate appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.

“He takes care of Health and Human Services not only for Pennsylvania, but for the whole nation,” Murtha told the audience of community organizers trying to reopen the hospital.

Murtha said he often works with Specter on health-care issues, and said he accompanied the former Republican to a Cambria County Democratic function on Thursday. But Murtha said he is considering all options.

“We are listening to (Specter),” Murtha said after the Brownsville event. “I asked (Cambria County Democrats) to listen to him. It’s about production: See what he produced. We are going to listen to Sestak, too. Then we’ll see.”

Specter said he has been well-received by Democrats.

“I just came from a meeting with Cambria County Democratic Party,” Specter said in Dale. “It was a very, very warm reception. I talked about my prior record. I really have voted more with Democrats than with Republicans.”

Through the years, Democrats often urged him to switch parties. Specter said.

“After my vote on the economic stimulus package – I thought that was a vote that needed to be cast to avoid a 1930s-style depression – I found a lot of Republicans urging me to become a Democrat,” Specter said.