First GOP opponent for Specter makes it official

By: Bill Hangley

With anti-abortion activist Peg Luksik now in the race, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has his first official opponent for the 2010 Republican primary. Analysts say the incumbent senator is vulnerable to a challenge from the right.

By: Bill Hangley
bhangley@whyy.org

With anti-abortion activist Peg Luksik now in the race, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has his first official opponent for the 2010 Republican primary. Analysts say the incumbent senator is vulnerable to a challenge from the right.

Transcript:
Luksik says tax cuts, not government spending, are the key to ending an increasingly punishing recession. Analyst Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College says that message will resonate strongly with Pennsylvania’s increasingly conservative Republican party. Thousands of moderate Republican voters switched to the Democratic Party during last year’s presidential primaries. Madonna says the centrist Specter should probably hope for still more conservatives to dilute the field.

Madonna: “It would dramatically help senator specter if in fact there would be two or three conservatives to run against him to divide the conservative vote. So I’m not sure yet that the field is clear for Peg Luksik to be the only conservative candidate running against Arlen Specter.”

At least one other conservative is considering entering the race. Former congressman Pat Toomey almost beat Specter in the 2004 GOP primary.

Listen:
Click on the play button below or right click on this link and choose “Save Link As” to download. [audio: reports20090311specter.mp3]