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.
Jeffrey Lord, a contributing editor to The American Spectator, is a former aide to Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. An author and former CNN commentator, he writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com. His new book, Swamp Wars: Donald Trump and The New American Populism vs. The Old Order, is now out from Bombardier Books.
