Specter’s narrow margin raises questions for Bush--The Hill 4/29

[Gloria]

http://thehill.com/news/042904/specter.aspx

Specter’s narrow margin raises questions for Bush
By Peter Savodnik
April 29, 20004

Sen. Arlen Specter’s 17,000-vote victory in Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania casts serious doubt on the 24-year incumbent’s ability to deliver the battleground state for President Bush in November.

Bush backed Specter in the primary over third-term Rep. Pat Toomey because Specter was expected to have a statewide “machine” to get out the vote.


snip

University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, on his “Crystal Ball” website yesterday, added: “This narrow victory for Specter proves again that the moderate wing of the GOP is dying, even in the Northeast. It’s very comparable to the death of the conservative wing of the Democratic Party in the South and Rocky Mountain states.”

Republicans privately acknowledged that they were surprised by Specter’s narrow victory. “We suspected it was going to be close, but perhaps not this close,” one Republican aide said.

“It sends a message that there is a lot of discontent with all the spending in Washington,” said Tom Schatz, chairman of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste’s political action committee, which backed Toomey. “I don’t think this vote was just a pro-Pat Toomey or necessarily an anti-Arlen Specter. I think it was a message to the White House.”

snip

The unanswered question — the question that is of paramount importance to the Bush re-election campaign — is whether the state’s senior senator can draw the millions of voters to the polls that Bush needs to win the Keystone State’s 21 electoral votes.

[aquart]

1. No, there's a whole other question:

Are voters angry enough to toss the Congress, even with all the careful redistricting?

In every Republican congressman's heart, "Have enough precautions been taken?"

Is it time to stop worrying about that loser, Bush, and start bailing the lifeboats?

[Old and In the Way]

2. It was posted here last night that only 1/3 of registered R voters

bothered to vote. Give the distinct choices, the high profile campaigns, and GOTV activities, I think this is the real story and that bodes well for us in November.

[dusty64]

3. I like this

and wasn't aware of the turnout. That is pretty low.