Sestak launches campaign against Specter for Democratic Senate nomination

IT'S ON.

After testing the waters in each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak of Delaware County yesterday launched his renegade campaign against U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary.

"Do you have something to tell us, Joe?" one woman shouted as Sestak entered a Ridley Township VFW post, where supporters had packed the steaming hot room.

With his wife, Susan, standing by his side, Sestak provided a definitive answer: "I am running for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

"I proposed to her two days after I met her, and she said yes - eight years later," he said. "I can work very hard for one single 'yes' vote, and that's what I intend to do."

Sestak, 57, a retired admiral who unseated 10-term Republican U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon in 2006, has strongly criticized how President Obama and other Democrats swiftly "anointed" Specter as their nominee when he switched parties in April.

Earlier this year, when Specter was still a Republican, Sestak said that he'd been asked by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to consider challenging Specter.

Now, nobody can talk him out of it, to the dismay of party leaders from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.

The second-term congressman began his day at the VFW, where "Democrat for Senate" lawn signs had been stapled on top of his old congressional campaign signs, then headed to Pittsburgh and Johnstown. He plans to hit Harrisburg and Scranton today before appearing on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," which will air at 11:30 tonight.

If elected, Sestak said, he would support Obama's agenda and help build an economy that benefits the working class, not just the "well-to-do." His campaign platform will include improving accessibility to affordable health care and education.

"We're Americans," he said. "We can do that."

A notorious workaholic, Sestak broadsided the Washington political establishment for letting the economy run aground.

"Some people were asleep at the switch," Sestak said. "Those people who you sent to Washington to represent you, to look out for you, failed to do so, and they must be held accountable."

"Give 'em hell, Joe!" a supporter yelled.

Speaking with reporters afterward, Sestak brushed aside the wishes of Democratic leaders - including Gov. Rendell - who have sought to clear the field for Specter.

"Boy, if Barack Obama had listened to that, we wouldn't have a first-term senator being president today," he said.

Specter, 79, has widespread name recognition, a $3 million fundraising edge and a huge lead over Sestak in early polling. But only 40 percent of voters believe that Specter deserves re-election, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released in July. A June Franklin & Marshall College poll put that number at a dismal 28 percent.

Specter's campaign welcomed Sestak to the race yesterday by accusing him of shirking his congressional responsibilities while quasi-campaigning for Senate.

"His months of indecisiveness on his candidacy raises a real question as to his competency to handle the tough, rapid-fire decisions required of a senator," Specter campaign manager Christopher Nicholas said in a statement. "He hardly deserves a promotion since he has missed 105 House votes this year, which is the worst attendance record of any Pennsylvania congressman."

Former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, of Lehigh Valley, the likely Republican nominee, said that his fiscal conservatism stands in stark contrast to both Democratic candidates. His campaign blasted Specter and Sestak for supporting "unprecedented Washington spending, bailouts of Wall Street banks and car companies, and government control of health care decisions."