Pennsylvania: Pat Toomey

PoliticsPA reports that sources have told them that PA Senate’s majority whip Jane Orie has been meeting with Republican leaders and the NRSC in Washington about a possible run for the US Senate.

According to PoliticsPA:
[M]any Republican leaders have continued to worry privately about Toomey’s electability statewide, fearing he is too conservative for a state that gave Barack Obama a 10-point victory over John McCain last year.
Ummm, huh? I never really thought of Orie as being anything less than strongly conservative.

This is a person, after all, who believes:

• Abortions should always be illegal, while schools should teach abstinence-only sex education, while being against expanding state funding for pre-natal and infant care programs available in the state, including immunizations.

The much-anticipated showdown between Arlen Specter and Pat Toomey, which was scheduled for the 2010 Republican Party Primary in Pennsylvania, won't take place now that Specter has bolted to the Democratic Party.

Instead, the grudge match may be held in November 2010, assuming Toomey and Specter can win their respective party primaries.

So who comes out ahead?

Lowman S. Henry, director and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research and one of the most astute political analysts in Pennsylvania, believes Toomey can beat Specter in a one-on-one contest.

From a new Henry column:
In the potential general election match-up between Specter and Toomey, Toomey will have a number of advantages.

This just in:

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, according to sources informed on the decision.

Specter's decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next Senator from Minnesota. (Former Sen. Norm Coleman is appealing Franken's victory in the state Supreme Court.)

Specter as a Democrat would also fundamentally alter the 2010 calculus in Pennsylvania as he was expected to face a difficult primary challenge next year from former Rep. Pat Toomey. The only announced Democrat in the race is former National Constitution Center head Joe Torsella although several other candidates are looking at the race.

Wow.

TOOMEY: SENATE RUN ‘BACK ON THE TABLE’
GrassrootsPA has learned that former Congressman Pat Toomey, the current Club for Growth President, just announced this morning on Bobby Gunther Walsh’s 1-On-1 Show, WAEB, 790AM, that a Primary challenge to Senator Arlen Specter is ‘now back on the table’…
UPDATED TEXT OF RON SHEGDA EMAIL RELAYING TOOMEY REMARKS ON [...]