BCT Editorial – 4/16/08

This page was last updated on April 16, 2008.

Voter switch; Editorial; Beaver County Times; April 16, 2008.

That the Times apparently likes Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) – at least until the general election – should come as no surprise.

The Times need not worry about there not being enough left-leaning Republicans (The editorial euphemistically refers to left-leaning Republicans as “moderate Republicans.”) to help Mr. Specter in the 2010 primary. If you recall, in 2004 Mr. Specter asked Democrats to switch parties and vote in the Republican primary.

With alleged support from the Specter campaign, Transportation Communications International Union management sent Pennsylvania union members a letter encouraging Democrats to switch temporarily their party registration so they could vote in the Republican primary. Union management wanted Sen. Specter to defeat Rep. Pat Toomey.¹ Union management wanted to make sure that if a Democrat didn’t win the Senate seat in the general election, the liberal Sen. Specter would.

This wasn’t the only attempt by Specter to use this tactic to subvert the will of Pennsylvania Republicans. Sen. Specter also encouraged Jewish Democrats to switch registration so they could vote for him in the primary!²

Never fear, Times, Mr. Specter will rally his base to switch party registrations so they can vote for him in the Republican primary.

1. Union Urges Penn. Voters to Choose Specter Over Toomey; Associated Press; FoxNews.com; March 24, 2004.

2. Primary Base; Jim Geraghty; National Review Online; March 18, 2004.