Arlen Specter

Democratic Congressman Chris Carney will get to add another Republican supporter to his Republicans for Carney list.  David Urban, former chief of staff for Senator Arlen Specter will host a DC fundraiser for Carney on July 16th. 

A former chief of staff of Republican U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter  is raising money for Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Carney as he faces a still re-election test, Roll Call reports (subscription required).

David Urban was Specter's chief of staff for five years, but now he is hosting a $1,000-a-head breakfast for Carney July 16 in Washington.

"While I'm a Republican, I like to think I support solid candidates," Urban told Roll Call. "[Carney] is a conservative Democrats ... who deserves to be given another shot."

As senators representing the same constituents, Arlen Specter and Bob Casey are usually on the same side, even if they come from different parties.

But for one afternoon, Casey, a Democrat, and Specter, a Republican, squared off for the fiercest kind of political battle there is: a softball game.

That's right, it was the annual game between their two staffs. The winner: Casey's staff, 12-7, Pennsyltucky Politics report.

Specter spent most of the game on the sidelines, save for half an inning behind the plate as catcher and an infield fly-out Casey had the bigger moment, with a home run to boast.

Former Gov.Tom Ridge has been billed as John McCain's most high-profile in-state surrogate.

But U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Philadelphia) says he's also ready to campaign for the Arizona senator.

"We've been working hard on the upcoming election to elect Senator John McCain as the next President of the United States," Specter said in a statement to PolitickerPA.com.

The Pennsylvania Republican U.S. senator told a columnist that "it may be worthwhile" to hold Congressional hearings about the Democratic Party's refusal to seat delegations from primaries in Michigan and Florida.

"It’s certainly something I want to consider," said Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"The essence of democracy is the right to vote," he added. He said he would wait for things to play out, but if the delegations ended up not being seated, Congress must act "very promptly."

The Phoenix has a list of the 100 Unsexiest Men of 2008 and our own senior senator made the list at number 79. They may go over the line a little in their hatred for Specter.

We don't like to pick on cancer patients, which is why Specter didn't show up on this list back in '06, after he filled in for Dr. Evil at John Roberts's Supreme Court confirmation hearings. But let's fast-forward, shall we? The Iraq War is five years old, the intelligence community has a blank check to play Peeping Tom on American citizens, and the senator from Pennsylvania is worried about this Patriot act: a sports team from Teddy Kennedy's state that beat the sports team from Specter's state. Dear bulgy-eyed, sore loser: blow us.

They are obviously New England Cheatriots fans. Thanks to PolitickerAZ.com, who had John McCain make the list at number 14, for point this out and sending us the link.

Sounding a different tone than his Republican colleagues, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama was right to call for diplomacy with countries like Iran, Syria and Venezuela.

Even as he has undergone intensive chemotherapy treatment for a second fight against Hodgkin's disease, Sen. Arlen Specter has remained upbeat.

He says his plans to run for reelection in 2010 haven't changed

Presidential candidate John McCain has been hitting Barack Obama on foreign policy and Obama’s willingness to sit down with rouge nations. Pennsylvania’s senior senator obviously did not get the talking points. The Morning Call had a story this afternoon where Specter defended Obama’s and says the country needs “a very fundamental shift in our thinking in our international diplomacy." Specter, who recently held a fundraiser hosted by conservative icon Grover Norquist, is not going to win many conservative friends this way.