Obama stumps for Specter at the Convention Center

A who's who of local Democratic party heavyweights gathered in Center City this afternoon to attend a fund-raising reception and dinner for Sen. Arlen Specter hosted by President Obama.

The event, at the Convention Center, aimed to raise $2.5 million for the former Republican who is running against Rep. Joe Sestak (D-7th District) in the Democratic senatorial primary. Some of the proceeds were also to go to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

Tickets to the reception, which began at 4 p.m., cost a donation of $2,400, though the audience included some rank-and-file members of the Democratic State Committee who were invited to attend gratis by the Specter campaign.

For giving $10,000 or raising $50,000, donors posed for photographs with the president and dined on steak, crab cakes, potatoes, carrots and green beans.

David L. Cohen, executive vice president of Comcast Corp. and a Democratic power broker who was chief of staff in Rendell's City Hall, was chairman of the event.

Among the other fund-raisers in attendance: lawyer Mark Alderman; developer Ron Rubin; lawyer Steve Cozen; lawyer Tad Decker, a former state inspector general; trial lawyer Richard A. Sprague; and lawyers Mark Aronchick and Ken Jarin, major fund-raisers in Gov. Rendell's orbit.

Shortly after arriving, Obama delivered a speech lauding Specter as a pragmatist after his own heart.

"He was a great senator when he was a Republican and he is going to be an even greater senator now that he is a Democrat," Obama said, drawing laughter from a crowd of about 500 luminaries and rank-and-file Democrats.

"Arlen is not someone who came to Washington to fight for a particular ideology," the president said. "He came to fight for the working men and women of Pennsylvania, and he has a long record of success."

Following the 11-minute speech, Specter offered his appreciation of the president's support with his typical dry wit.

"It's great to have him as a president, it's great to have him as a friend – and it's perhaps greatest to have him as a fund-raiser," Specter said drawing laughs from the assembled bigwigs.

Gov. Rendell and Mayor Nutter also spoke in praise of the senator.

Regional politicos considered the event a success for Specter.

"It was a smart move for him to show his commitment" to party workers, said Mike Fegley, a state committeeman from Allentown. "I've always had great respect for Sen. Specter."

Fegley opined that the Obama endorsement would influence Democrats who might remain lukewarm to Specter. "The fact that he would endorse Specter makes everyone take a hard second look," Fegley said.

Outside the Convention Center, champions and detractors of the president and the senator gathered on the four corners of 12th and Arch Streets.

Capt. William Fisher, commanding officer of the Civil Affairs Unit, estimated that the overall crowd peaked at 400 people around 4:30 p.m.

Boisterous supporters of Obama's health care reform echoed his campaign slogan outside with shouts of "Yes we can!"

Protesters also let their voices be heard.

On one corner antiabortion activists held graphic signs and a man spoke loudly against abortion through a loud speaker.

Across the street, Betty Schieber, 71, of Langhorne, held up a sign declaring: "Dump Benedict Arlen."

"I'm hoping he gets the message that he's not going to get reelected," said Schieber, a GOP committeewoman. "That's what happens to traitors."

She added, "I worked my backside off for this guy and he back stabs us."

One man with his own quirky agenda held up a sign that read: "UFO Disclosure Now."

Among the curious onlookers was Karina Keff, 35, of the Netherlands, who currently works in Philadelphia and is hosting her visiting mother and sister.

"We would have thought there'd be more people out," she said, mentioning that protests in Holland are much bigger and more volatile.

Here, for the most part, the demonstrators are "giving each other a chance to say something."

Keff said her family thinks "that Mr. Obama should get more of a chance and not get stopped before he even gets started."