The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Ridge Isn't Running

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Conservative opposition was starting to suface, mentioned this morning in the Allentown Morning Call. The polls showed that while Toomey was behind Specter, it was by less than 10 points. A year out, that indicated a winnable race. Ridge is 63. There was already a fuss about his main residence being in Chevy Chase, Maryland -- a version of the story the Democrats used successfully against Rick Santorum in 2006 (Santorum has a home in Leesburg, Virginia.) All in all, making money (the lobbyist issue was lurking as well), having family responsibilities, there was a question of whether he had the fire to do this. For whatever reason -- the answer is no.

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MAS1916| 5.7.09 @ 4:30PM

The PA GOP needs to avoid a difficult primary fight here. Specter will help raise all the money needed to defeat him. If Toomey is the candidate, he should get started immediately raising money.

The GOP is not sorry Specter is gone. For a more satirical look at why Republicans are glad, you can hit:
http://firstconservative.com/blog/top-ten/why-the-gop-is-happy-specter-is-out-top-ten-reasons-republicans-are-glad

John| 5.7.09 @ 4:50PM

It is simple... the TEA LEAVES SAID:

1. Spectre is through. Fast Eddie Rendell is going to get the Democrat Nomination, not Double Benedict Arlen. So match-ups of Ridge against Spectre are silly.

2. Ridge vs. Toomey in the Primary would mean no guaranteed win for Ridge, at all, and the sudden reality that if Ridge won.. he'd be running against Fast Eddie without any sort of Conservative or Pro-Life base support.

3. The TEA LEAVES ARE SAYING: that it is TOOMEY or nothing. My surmise is that Toomey will bring back far more Conservatives from the 2004-2008 sit-outs, than he will lose in voters who would most probably vote for Eddie anyway.

Gee... maybe Pencil-hockey has a shot at regaining a Republican seat in the Senate afterall... and this time a REAL honest to Pete.. Republican, not a Democrat looking for a convenient campaign contribution collector.

We shall see...

:) John