Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Specter's future
The Hill is reporting that Senate Democrats are happy to have Arlen Specter in the caucus, but not so much with the notion that his seniority might be buttin' in line ahead of them with respect to key committee positions.
"'I won't be happy if I don't get to chair something because of Arlen Specter,' said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who sits on the Appropriations Committee with Specter and is fifth in seniority among Democrats behind Chairman Daniel Inouye (Hawaii), Sens. Robert Byrd (W.Va.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.) and Tom Harkin (Iowa). 'I'm happy with the Democratic order but I don't want to be displaced because of Arlen Specter,' she said.Senator Specter might end up being kind of a lonely guy, although the determination about his seniority won't be made until the next Congress is seated.
"One senior Democratic lawmaker told The Hill that the Democratic Conference will vote against giving the longtime Pennsylvania Republican seniority over lawmakers like Harkin, Mikulski and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) when they hold their organizational meeting after the 2010 election.
"Specter was elected in 1980, and under his deal with Reid would jump ahead of all but a few Democrats when it comes time to dole out committee chairmanships and assignments.
"'That's his deal and not the caucus's,' the senior lawmaker said of Reid's agreement with Specter."
It isn't quite a given that Specter will run unopposed next year during the PA primary. Congressman Joe Sestak, a retired U.S. Navy Admiral who has been considering a run, "left open the possibility of running against Specter in a primary despite the Democratic establishment's having lined up behind Specter."
"'While the political establishment in Washington may support him, the determination has to be made by the fellow sitting in a diner in Upper Darby," Sestak said. 'Is this the gentleman who has the right leadership to shape the Democratic Party when (he has) had a pretty tough dialogue with his base and didn't shape that party?'Sestak was a supporter of Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and was notable because of his military background, and PA went for Clinton in the primary. Sestak may feel somewhat less constrained by White House backing of Specter in the run up to next year's primary, and it's not as if Vice President Biden's support of his friend Specter will mean many votes PA.
"Sestak said he has no timetable and only began talking to people about the race this month. But he suggested Specter’s actions in the near term will play a big role.
"'I haven’t heard those (ideas) yet, and I think maybe that's what will come out in the next few weeks or so,' Sestak said. 'You don’t want to wait two years. It should be a couple weeks or something.'"
Speculating well outside of the box, I wonder if Lynn Swann would consider running in the Republican primary, either against Toomey, or solo, if Toomey withdrew now that his primary reason for initially entering is gone. Swann ran against incumbent Governor Ed Rendell in 2006 and lost, but perhaps outperformed expectations.
It would be a bitter pill indeed for Senator Specter if he loses the election in 2010, or, if he wins, loses his seniority.
3 Comments:
By 
Anthony, at
Wed Apr 29, 09:43:00 PM:
Senator Specter might end up being kind of a lonely guy,...As did Benedict Arnold.
Swann ran against incumbent Governor Ed Rendell in 2006 and lost, but perhaps outperformed expectations.You're closer and probably have better information than I, but I had the impression that Swann ran a pretty weak campaign.
By 
, at
Thu Apr 30, 08:35:00 AM:
I have a question. What happens right now? Specter held a "Republican" seat on the various committees upon which he sat. Does he get dumped for now for a Republican replacement, Does the increase in Democratic Senators overall entitle them to increasing their numbers by one and decreasing the Republican numbers by one, or will bumping on the Democratic side take place right now? Inquiring minds want to know.
I think that one of the worst blunders showing a lack of backbone by the Republican (Stupid) Party was in 2001 when they had a 50-50 Senate split w/VP Cheney breaking the tie they allowed for equal representation on committees albeit with Republican chairmen. As soon as Jeffords jumped.
JLW III
By , at
Thu Apr 30, 09:53:00 PM:
"Sestak was a supporter of Hillary Clinton in the primaries," is an innocuous-sounding characterization of the Sestak-Clinton relationship.
When he was first elected, the Clintonites supported Sestak in his run against the incumbent Republican nutcase, whose name escapes me. As I recall, there were some peculiar last minute leaks of a public corruption investigation of the incumbent by the Justice Department that redounded to Sestak's benefit. No doubt, the leakers were "career" Justice Department lawyers, and not the icky Republican political appointees.
Interestingly, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff fired Rear Admiral Sestak as practically his first official act right after he (Admiral Mike Mullen) was appointed (by Bush) as Chief of Naval Operations. It was almost the first thing he did.
Some reporter should look into these unusual relationships.
