Will there be a moderate in GOP primary?

Senator Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democrats leaves the current Republican primary race with two right-wing candidates.

Senator Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democrats leaves the current Republican primary race with two right-wing candidates. Many now question whether there is room for a moderate wing within the state’s Republican party.

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Specter’s GOP rival, the conservative Pat Toomey, is now considered the leader in a Republican primary that includes the pro-life activist Peg Luksik. But observers say it will be difficult for Toomey in the general election.

Franklin and Marshall College political science professor Terry Madonna says there are two potential moderate candidates.

Madonna: One of the huge questions that remains to be answered is what will the role be for moderates for folks like Tom Ridge and Jim Gerlach who fit a sort of moderate, slightly center right in their ideology and this raises the question of what will happen within the Republican party in the years ahead.

Pennsylvania is becoming more blue than red. Registered Democrats now outnumber the state’s registered Republicans by 1.2 million voters.