Arlen Specter, Incumbent Pennsylvania Senator Loses Out In Re-Election Bid
May 19th, 2010 - 6:53 pm ICT by GDBy Ranjan Bhaduri
Pennsylvania, May 19, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The longest Serving senator of Pennsylvania Arlen Specter suffered a humiliating defeat to GOP candidate Joe Sestak in his re election bid yesterday. The defeat was almost unexpected to the veteran senator who was confident of winning this time as well. His dreams were crushed as opponent Joe Sestak walked away with over 53 percent of the votes, and he managed to get 47 percent. After serving in the US senate for almost 30 years as a GOP follower Arlen Specter changed loyalty and switched to the Democrats to salvage his political career. He had a 20 point lead over his rival and in spite of that faced a stunning defeat yesterday. He got the support from Michael Nutter, the Philadelphia Mayor and Gov. Ed Rendell who worked for him to win over the voters in Philadelphia. He even got support from US president Barack Obama.
It was true that the democrats left no stones unturned to project Arlen Specter in a favorable light using his years in the senate as a weapon, opponent Joe Sestak used the party changing by the veteran senator to his advantage. He succeeded in making a large section of the voters believe that the veteran senator was self interested. He also showed a political ad that showed the senator with former president George W. Bush.
The defeat of Senator Arlen Specter marks the growing anti incumbent trend among a large segment of the voters in the USA. It is being assumed that he failed to do well in Philadelphia and this led to his unexpected defeat. Joe Sestak will have to take on Pat Toomey in the coming days.
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