Probably the stupidest thing that the left and Democrats did in at least 20 years. Not only did it likely cost Democrats the Pennsylvania Senate seat, it also cost them a House seat that they will probably never get back.
Arlen Specter was a reliable Democratic vote after he switched parties and even if he wasnt, he still would be a hell of a lot better than Pat Toomey.
Doing this cost Democrats a Senate seat because it left Democrats with a weak candidate in Joe Sestak who had only been elected to Congress in Democratic wave years of 2006 and 2008 and had no experience campaigning in very bad political climates.
Say what you will about Arlen Specter, but he knew how to win general elections. In 1986 when Republican Senators were falling like dead timber all over the country, Arlen Specter defined his opponent, Democratic Congressman Bob Egdar early and won that election by 56%-43%. In 1992(the Year of the Woman), he came back from a 15 point deficit in the polls to beat Lynn Yeakel by attacking her and driving her negatives through the roof. He did all of this while George Bush was getting clobbered by Bill Clinton at the top of the ticket. I strongly believe that Specter would have attacked Toomey relentlessly and beaten him. That would have left Democrats with a 54-46 majority in the Senate rather than 53-47 and would have been a seat we deserately needed in 2012 to keep the majority. But no, Democrats had to run Joe Sestak.
The double whammy about all of this is that it cost Democrats Joe Sestak's old House seat. Sestak wasnt a very strong candidate, but he was popular in PA-07. He was popular enough to win there by two points against Toomey and probably would have held on even in the Republican wave. When he left the seat open, Pat Meehan(who is a god in Delaware county) ran and won the seat easily.
So here we are a year later and Democrats now have one less House seat and one less Senate seat because of the idiocy of many people here. Thanks a lot.