Notice that this is a question. I have lived in Pennsylvania all 23 years of my life. I honestly cannot point to one thing that Specter has ever done that has been evil. Extremely political? Of course. Extremely evil? Nope. I mean I think that his biggest screw up was the "Magic Bullet Theory", which turns out to kind of be correct. I am a die hard liberal, and I think that Specter is an asshole, but I think that if you put a "D" after his name instead of an "R", and you pretty much have your average wishy washy boring politically savvy Senator (cough John Kerry).
The question that I have, and I will open the floor for this one is this... What does Hoeffel have to offer PA and the Senate that Specter cannot? If Hoeffel wins, we will have another wing nut as the head of the Judiciary committee, instead of the boring, fairly pro-choice Specter. All I see us getting is another Dem in there that will do things like blindly vote for the War Resolution in Iraq. A Dem who does not embrace the blogging community, or at least does so when it is "hip", and then backs out when things look like they are getting hot. With Dems like this, who needs Republicans? If he will not stand up to stupid right wing trolls, then how can I expect him to stand up to lobbyists, Republicans, and other major foe when it is time to fight for Health Care, Education, A Balanced Budget, Urban/Rural Development, A Woman's Right To Choose, Racial Justice, Child Care, the Environment, etc.?
The point is, Hoeffel's strategy of saying that Specter is really a Right Wing nut job dressed up as a moderate is not going to work. I am a Dem, and I am going to vote for him, and I still don't know "Why him". I also know that he will not impress anyone by trying to convince them that they have been blind for the last 24 some years. Even if this were true, which it isn't, people would deny it because they wouldn't want to admit that they were blind and stupid. That is, he can't convince me "why not Specter", except for the fact that Specter is not a Dem. I don't think that this will work in the Philly suburbs or the Thornburg T.
Some friends of mine, whom I admire and respect said that Joe was a lot better in his younger days. I hope that this is true, but I am not seeing it.