The LuLac Edition #750, Mar. 7th, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER AND WILK TALK SHOW HOST KEVIN LYNN.

SAVING ARLEN

When the news came on Friday that former Congressman Pat Toomey was again going to challenge Arlen Specter in the GOP primary for Senate in 2010, minds of independent Pennsylvania voters began to race. WILK's Kevin Lynn put all of our thoughts into words when he said, "Looks like I'm going to have to change back to the Republican party to vote for Arlen". Those were my thoughts too. In 2004, many registered Democrats, heavily in the Southwestern corner of the state switched to the GOP to save Arlen from the conservative forces hellbent on running him out of D.C. Specter enlisted the aid of Senator Rick Santorum as well as then President Bush in winning a narrow win over Toomey. This year, armed with the Specter vote on the Obama stimulus plan, the GOP in this state is out for Specter's head. What might complicate matters for them though is that not only Toomey has expressed an interest in the race but former candidate for Governor and pro life advocate Peg Luksic is also reported to be ready to enter the fray. Luksic ran a grass roots campaign for Governor in 1990 nearly knocking off the eventual nominee Barbara Hafer. If Luksic and Toomey split the conservative vote, Specter may make it to the general again. (Specter's poll ratings stand this way: Mr. Specter is at 43 percent good or excellent, 49 percent fair or poor and 8 percent don’t know.) In the meantime, Democrats like myself and Lynn will switch parties to keep a multi term Senator in office. My thought process has always been this: you have to look at the entire record of the candidate, not just bits and pieces. By the way, the Luzerne County GOP is running a Membership special for $50. Buy it and you get a ticket to the Carl Rove dinner at Genetti's in April. Ticket price is $35.00. Maybe I'll buy two and invite Arlen to go with me. Anyway, if you are a Democrat thinking about switching for Arlen, you might want to consider doing it now if you are disgusted by the antics of the Democratic party under the dome. Many rank and file Democrats, not connected with the Courthouse crowd are looking for a new home and the GOP just might be it.

MARCY AT THE BAT

State House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, announced that he has named an award-winning journalist as communications director of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus. Eachus named Brett Marcy, former Harrisburg correspondent for The Times Leader newspaper of Wilkes-Barre, to the post of communications director, noting his experience as both a journalist and strategic communications professional. Marcy was a frequent guest on PCN's "Journalists Roundtable".