Sweet: White House abandons Specter on eve of likely primary defeat

In which The One tries to scrub his fingerprints off of another unspeakably pathetic Democratic candidate. Unlike with Deeds, Corzine, and Coakley, though, he got something for his efforts here — namely, the 60th vote for O-Care. Grassroots righties tend to assume that Specter, as the RINO di tutti RINOs, would have crossed the aisle and voted for the bill even as a Republican, but I think that’s nuts. Neither Snowe nor Collins was brave enough to risk alienating the base by endorsing O-Care and they’re not even up for re-election. With third-party tea-party challenges a major risk, Specter wouldn’t have dared to alienate conservatives by breaking with the caucus to vote yes. The only way that was happening was by Obama purchasing his vote with a promise to endorse him in his re-election bid if he became a Democrat, and it worked like a charm. Now that O’s gotten what he wanted and Sestak looks poised to give Toomey more of a run for his money then Specter would have, it’s actually the best of all worlds for the White House. Unless Sen. Sestak holds a grudge, of course.

Let’s not overthink things, though. For now, let’s just enjoy it.

Schieffer, to my knowledge, has not said this on national TV yet. But he made the claim in an interview with the local CBS affiliate in Philadelphia here. “I have been told on background that the White House is preparing for a Specter loss here, and that the president doesn’t want to be associated with that,” Schieffer said.

I’ve also learned that Veep Joe Biden will not be doing any campaign events for Specter in the final stretch, though it’s not immediately clear how significant this is. Last week, Biden said he’d be doing events for Specter “as needed.”

But a Biden aide confirms for me that no campaign events are scheduled, even though Biden will be in Pennsylvania tonight speaking at his daughter’s graduation. Biden has done radio interviews on Specter’s behalf.

It’s razor-thin right now, but with bad weather in the forecast and no descent from Mt. Olympus by The One to goose turnout among the base, the enthusiasm edge favors Sestak. Ace is bummed about it since a Specter loss will deprive us of the pleasure of watching Toomey administer the coup de grace in November, but I kind of like the idea of a Democrat taking him out. If Toomey beats Specter, we’re in for the same old media shrieking about “radicals” having captured the GOP. If Sestak beats him, needless to say, there’ll be no corresponding storyline about liberals gone wild or a Democratic civil war. Rather, the narrative will be all about how voters saw him for the soulless, opportunistic slug he is. Works for me. Plus, I dig the Shakespearean quality of watching the ruthless turncoat betrayed in the heat of battle by the enemy king he embraced. Lay on, Macduff! I mean, Sestak!

Normally we don’t unleash the Humpbot for Democratic victories, but if Smokin’ Joe pulls this off tomorrow, prepare yourselves for the bump-n-grind of glory.

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