“In those days after Arlen switched, there was panic on the Republican side, and that has dissipated a bit,” said William Green, a GOP political analyst in Pittsburgh. “People meet Pat, and they see that he’s not a fire-breathing dragon. . . . He’s an economic, Jack Kemp conservative.”…

State GOP chairman Rob Gleason, one of those who encouraged Ridge to run, said he was no longer “actively recruiting” other candidates and believed Toomey could win a general election.