by Jules Witcover

Incumbents of both parties took beatings in congressional primary elections, dashing a bit of cold water on the Republican Party's expectations for a takeover of one or both houses of Congress in November. If the message was "throw the rascals out," it was a nonpartisan one.

Other reasons for the purges, however, were obvious in individual primaries. In the most notable of them, the contest for the Pennsylvania Democratic senatorial nomination, the issue was not only incumbency but also the perceived self-service and arrogance of five-term Sen. Arlen Specter.

Specter's openly explained decision in switching his party allegiance from Republican to Democrat after 29 years in the GOP -- that he knew he could not be renominated in his old party -- set him up for easy toppling.

His primary opponent, two-term Congressman Joe Sestak, summed up the case against Specter with a devastating television ad showing three prominent Republicans -- President George W. Bush, 2000 vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin and former Sen. Rick Santorum -- all praising endorsing Specter as one of them before his desperate party switch.

The view of Bush with Specter at his side saying how much he depended on him was particularly damaging, as was a shot of Specter proclaiming candidly but foolishly that "my change will enable me to be reelected."

In a period of high unemployment in Pennsylvania as elsewhere across the country, Sestak and his ad men made the most of the opportunity, noting that Specter was motivated to "save one job -- his, not yours." But Specter's naked ambition was not the only factor in his downfall. At 80, with multiple survived illnesses behind him, the contrast with the vigorous Sestak, 58, a retired Navy admiral with a reputation as a workhorse, did not help.

Furthermore, Specter's reputation for irascibility did not always encourage GOP support, especially as he frequently broke from party orthodoxy. Many female voters remembered, too, his harsh interrogation of lawyer Anita Hill in the Senate confirmation hearings in which she accused Judge Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

Specter sought to gild his switch in party affiliation with the fact that in doing so he gave new president Barack Obama a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. In turn, it earned him support in his reelection bid from Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, as well as other Democratic stalwarts in the state, including Gov. Edward Rendell.

But Obama, after endorsing Specter, went into the state only once, in mid-September, and attended a single fundraiser. In the campaign's home stretch, with Sestak closing fast on Specter in the polls, the president kept his distance. Turnout on Tuesday in the rain was low, probably working against Specter in his loss to Sestak by 54 percent to 46.

In a second key Pennsylvania race, one Republicans hoped would signal a GOP swing in November, the special election for the seat of the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha, his longtime staff aide, Mark Critz, held off Republican businessman Tim Burns, 53-45.

Elsewhere, however, tea party enthusiasts could point to Kentucky, where the Republican Senate primary produced a clear winner in their latest star, Rand Paul, son of Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, a libertarian darling of the tea party movement. He trounced Secretary of State Trey Grayson, the choice of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 59-35.

Paul's victory added luster to the tea party's earlier success in Utah in ousting longtime conservative Republican Sen. Robert Bennett at the state party's convention, punishing him for supporting the federal bank bailouts.

The anti-incumbency trend also impeded but did not yet derail Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas, who failed to get the required majority against Lt. Gov. Bill Halter and must face him again in a June 8 runoff. Her opposition to a union push for easier membership sign-up generated a strong labor effort against her.

In all, the voting that Republican leaders predicted would be a clear harbinger of a turn-around takeover of Congress in November produced no such message. It reflected instead a disfavor with Washington across party lines -- a warning to all incumbents to mend their political fences between now and then.

 

Available at Amazon.com:

The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics

Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks

The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House

 

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2010 Elections: A Warning to Incumbents | Politics

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