In a shock to many political observers, Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced he will change his name to Pat Toomey.
"The name polls well, several points ahead of 'Arlen Specter'for some reason, and I already support some of the same policies as Toomey, like the flat tax. I believe this is consistent with my statement when I switched thatI would not be a loyal Democrat. No one should be surprised. I'm just going back to my maverick ways," Specter said.
"I already have the Democratic State Committee endorsement, so clearly I have the Democratic primary won. It's been eight years since Ed Rendell won the primary despite losing the DSC endorsement, and obviously that isn't going to happen in an anti-incumbent, pro-outsider year like 2010."
(Yes, this is snark -- but only the quotes and the bit about him changing his name. The rest is real.)
The Sestak campaign has posted "The Real Specter’s Top Ten Worst Votes"
http://therealspecter2010.com/...
CQ reported in October 2008 that Specter had voted with George W. Bush 79 percent of the time, just shy of 4 of every 5 votes.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/...
For some reason, after Sestak announced his primary challenge, Specter started voting a lot more Democratic.
Here's a link to the Sestak for Senate site.