Democratic Rep. to Join Pa. Senate Race

Associated Press

Democratic Rep. Joseph Hoeffel said Tuesday he will seek the Senate seat held by four-term Republican incumbent Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who must first get past a GOP challenger before seeking another term in November 2004.

"I believe passionately that Washington can be a powerful and positive force to improve the quality of life for the people of Pennsylvania," the three-term congressman from the Philadelphia area said in a statement.

Hoeffel planned to file his official statement of candidacy later in the day.

Although Hoeffel's announcement had been expected for weeks, Democrats in Washington and Harrisburg, Pa., had a chance to utter a collective sigh of relief after scrambling to find a candidate. The Democratic nominee will face the winner of the April 27 Republican primary between the moderate Specter and conservative Rep. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.

Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat who is a longtime Specter friend and political ally, immediately endorsed Hoeffel. ---

for the general election, but I think Hoeffel still has to be considered a longshot at this point.

Especially if Toomey wins the primary. If Specter wins, Hoeffel should point out that he's been running for office for nearly 40 years. Enough already!

Hoeffel is the only candidate (except for Rendell or Murtha or somebody, but they aren't running) that can beat Specter. I think that Specter will win the primary but will be weakened by a move to the right (which has already occured) necessitated to beat Toomey, making him vulnerable to Hoeffel's challenge. Furthermore, Specter may suffer from a "Gekas effect"-Specter hasn't had a tough race since 1992, while Hoeffel has a tough race every two years.

Here's an interesting Democrat from Lancaster, PA, who's toying with the idea of running for Senate (he's been a rock musician and the founder and head of a successful startup computer software firm; he recently founded Mission Research, which "builds software to help nonprofits focus more on their core missions.")

His Web site:

http://www.charliecrystle.com/default.asp?page=main.asp

His bio:

http://www.charliecrystle.com/default.asp?page=bio.asp

Q&A:

http://www.politicspa.com/FEATURES/Interviews/interviewcrystle.htm

I'm from Lancaster, PA and am in the software business and this is news to me. But, hey, why not!

I saw an article in the Intel a couple of months ago about this guy. Since then, nada.

...there are two other people from Lancaster at DU. :hi: Apparently, there is a God. :thumbsup:

Is it true that Graham rule out running for re-election? I thought he was keeping his options open in case he fails to get traction in the presidential race.

Graham hasn't ruled out running, but the indications are that he won't. I am currently moving my site to http://www.freewebs.com/goobergunch/gpr.html ...it should be up by 4:30 PM.

Thanks. I take a different view. With Florida having such a late primary (September), Graham has plenty of time to run if he drops out in February or March. Of course, there's always the VP possibility. So he could decide to run, and then drop out, because, unlike Connecticut and Texas, you can't run for Senate and the VP at the same time.

that's two good candidates to announce today!

about this right wing group raising funds to take out moderate republicans in favor of their more extreme candidates. Specter is on their list for removal...

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/special_packages/sunday_review/6239934.htm

Stephen Moore and his die-hard conservative allies are taking lots of hits these days. They're reviled as "cannibals." They're accused of "eating their own." They're "fratricidal purists." Their tactics are "stupid."

I too saw the Inquirer article and can think of nothing better than to have moore and his henchmen rough up specter, defeat him and nominate toomey, (a real asshole, makes brett schundler look liberal), and Hoeffel's chances improve dramatically.

Pennsylvania leans Democratic and Spector a moderate/socially tilts towards the left has had a very difficult time winning in the Presidential Election years. In 1992 he recieved 48% of the vote in a three way race. Joe Hoeffel is a reliable vote on domestic issues, he opposes oil drilling in ANWR and opposes the Shrub's "Faith Based Initiatives"!
Congressman Hoeffel is very able and should defeat Mr. Spector next year. :bounce:

You can view his positions here:

http://ontheissues.org/PA/Joseph_Hoeffel.htm

Specter's base, suburban Philadelphian Republicans, tends to be fiscally conservative and socially moderate. Since shrub has reliably proven himself to be a big-spending fascist, there is a lot more consternation among these Republicans than the media is letting on. Hoeffel has had success with the moderate Republican vote in the past, so I believe he will be competetive against Specter, and would absolutely crush Toomey.

Hoeffel's probably the best candidate we have. This seat is now a decent chance for a pick up.

That man is an embarrassment to all decent Pennsylvanians.

otherwise there are still plenty of candidates who could nail him.

But who knows?

Holden is a Dem but I think he could get some votes out of the right-leaning "T" area (think Northern PA & the middle of the state.) Santorum is an absolute horrorshow & I think he reflects badly upon my state.

but of course just about anyone would be an improvement over Santorum. But I'm still hoping a more liberal candidate can pull it off.

that'd be interesting though if both won, PA would go from having a centrist Republican senator and ultraconservative Republican senator to a centrist Democrat senator and ultraliberal Democrat senator.

candidate? Have they not heard of goals, objectives and planning?

Geeze! McAuliff......get with it!

I am going to work for this campaign!

In all fairness, Spector, though I think he is a freaking weasel, at least is not a neocon fascist pig.....but I will beat his reputation like the perverbial dead horse to get a Democratis Senator!

I am one happy Democratic woman

I'm hoping he gets to run against Toomey, because I think we've all had enough of these hard-right peckerwoods screwing things up & he won't have A.S.'s name recognition. We'll see.

This is one seat we need to win if dems are going to have any realistic chance of taking back the Senate. I think we have good chances with good candidates to take three GOP seats: Illinois, Alaska, and Pennsylvania. It won't be easy but at least in Alaska and Pa. we have good candidates and Illinois has yet to unite with one dem candidate but it is an increasingly democratic state.

I'm also wondering if Nighthorse-Campbell in Colorado will run again--if he doesn't I think this one would be a good shot for a pick up too.

This looks like a possible pickup. Hopefully a really good challenger will knock santorum out when he's up for election.