Toomey said to be in, but he may not be alone

Friday, March 6, 2009

Conservative poster-boy Pat Toomey, while officially only "considering" a Republican primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter, has begun telling friends privately that he's definitely in, according to the Morning Call newspaper. (The friends are so excited they apparently can't keep quiet, or maybe that was the point.) Anyway, here's the story by Josh Drobnyk.

But it does not look as though Toomey would have the clear field that political strategists dream of for a straight up-or-down shot at Specter. Anti-abortion activist Peg Luksik of Johnstown has already established a candidate committee and bought a post-office box for her own Senate campaign, and she's sounding more and more like a candidate.

"I'd say I've moved past maybe, or possibly, to 'strongly leaning in that direction,'" Luksik told me. "I'm close."

She said she would not be influenced by Toomey's plans, or concerns that having two conservatives in the race might simply split the anti-Specter vote, enabling him to escape once again with his political life.

"I'm going to do what I think is right - that's always been my barometer, and it always will be," Luksik said. As for Toomey, "what I've seen is somebody looking at poll numbers and that's it," she said.

Luksik ran for governor in the 1990s, and polled well. The conservative base of the Pennsylvania GOP has only grown more conservative since then, and she is a hero of the movement. Last year, Luksik managed the aggressive congressional campaign of Lt. Col. Bill Russell that rattled Democratic Rep. John Murtha, the earmark king.

"Sen. Specter needs to be helped into his well-deserved retirement," Luksik said. "It's truly time that the Washington insiders are told 'that's enough.'"

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/harrisburg_politics/Toomey_said_to_be_in_but_he_may_not_be_alone.html