The push is on in the leadership circles of the Pennsylvania GOP
to get former Governor and Secretary of Homeland Security Tom
Ridge to run for the U.S. Senate against ex-Congressman Pat
Toomey.
State GOP chairman Robert Gleason says Ridge is his first choice
to be the GOP nominee against Specter. Even Utah Senator Orrin
Hatch, a Pittsburgh native, is getting into the act saying of the
conservative Toomey: "I don't think there is anybody in the world
who believes he could get elected senator there."
The desperation of the anti-Toomey forces is apparent in the
media as well. Columns of newsprint are being filled picking up
the Specter argument that the Pennsylvania GOP is somehow filled
with foaming right-wingers. Should Ridge take a pass on the race,
it is suggested that the two moderate front-runners for the GOP
gubernatorial nomination settle the matter with one, either
Attorney General Tom Corbett or former US attorney Pat Meehan,
run for governor while the other takes on Toomey in the Senate
race.
Ridge has not been on the ballot in the state since his
successful re-election race for governor in 1998. His departure
from the governorship was unique in state history. In the
immediate aftermath of 9/11 President Bush decided to create a
White House office of Homeland Security, persuading Ridge to
resign the governor's office to take the job. In what was one of
the most memorable scenes in state history, a swearing-in of
Ridge's lieutenant governor as the new state chief executive was
hastily arranged for the state capitol steps. With the entire
country shaken over the events, everyone in the state was acutely
aware one of the hijacked planes had been forced down in Somerset
County, just to the east of Pittsburgh. The street accesses to
the state capitol were physically sealed with huge Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation dump trucks and buses blocking
traffic. National guard helicopters buzzed overhead, and state
police sharpshooters were perched on the roof of the capitol
complex. The new governor sworn in, Ridge departed to thunderous
applause from a teary-eyed crowd clearly viewing the Vietnam vet
as the local hero being summoned to help fight the bad guys. His
state trooper bodyguards yielded to U.S. Secret Service agents
and Ridge disappeared into a small motorcade of black SUVs,
literally Washington bound that instant.
Will all this re-surface to propel him to a Senate win over
Toomey and then Specter? In the end, he went on to be the first
Secretary of the newly upgraded Cabinet Department of Homeland
Security, a job in which he picked up the usual critics for his
performance. When his name surfaced as a potential running mate
for GOP nominee John McCain in 2008, the suggestion drew sniping
from Pennsylvania conservatives who focused on his pro-choice
views.
You would think the primary is this May, instead of a year from
May. Stay tuned. Chaos reins in the Pennsylvania GOP.
