Sestak hopes to sweep Specter aside for Senate seat
By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-10-07 17:28:17 | Word Count: 655
U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, trailing in the latest polls by nearly 20 points, says he believes he's gaining ground in the race for Arlen Specter's Senate seat.
Sestak, 57, a Delaware County Democrat, blamed last week's failure by federal lawmakers to agree on a public option for a government-run health insurance program on members of Congress being unable to convey a clear message about its benefits to the public.
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"I'm sure a lot of them simply didn't read the bill," he said.
Sestak spent Saturday stumping for votes in Pittsburgh, marching in the African-American Heritage Day Parade Downtown and attending a picnic at the Westinghouse Lodge, Forest Hills, organized by fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle. At a sparsely attended town hall meeting at the Forest Hills Senior Center, Sestak accused Specter of choosing to "save a job" rather than hammer out solutions to rising costs of public education, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the increasing numbers of uninsured.
Specter, 79, in April switched to the Democratic Party after 44 years as a Republican.
"We should say 'Arlen, thanks for your service, but now it's time for change,' " Sestak said. "The next 30 years won't be like the last 30 years. We need change."
Also running in the Democratic primary is state Rep. Bill Kortz, D-Dravosburg. GOP contenders are former congressman Pat Toomey and Peg Luksik, a conservative activist from Johnstown.
Sestak acknowledged one of his biggest political hurdles before the primary in May will be getting name recognition. Health care has emerged as a crown jewel of Sestak's campaign.Taxpayer-funded health care he received while in the Navy saved his daughter after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
"It has to pass," Sestak said, referring to the public option. "If you don't have a public option, you don't get reform."
Steve Karas, 40, of Forest Hills, said he hasn't made up his mind whom to support in the May primary, but said Specter's decision to switch parties was disturbing.
"I support decisions that are based on fact," said Karas, a member of the Forest Hills Council. "People are supposed to read a bill then make a decision. But it seems more like a lot of decisions have been made, then they (members of Congress) go back and read it. It's not supposed to be that way."
A Quinnipiac University poll, released Thursday, declared a possible race between Specter and Toomey, a Republican from the Lehigh Valley, too close to call, with Toomey holding a slight edge, 43 percent to 42 percent. A May 4 poll, also by Quinnipiac, gave Specter a 45-to-44 advantage over Toomey.
Thursday's poll showed Specter held a 19-point lead over Sestak in the Democratic race. In July, his advantage over Sestak was 32 percent.
"To go from 32 (points) down to 19 down means our message is getting out," he said. "What we're going to have to do ... is let more and more people out there know that there's a credible alternative out there to what they've been getting the last 30 years."
As of June 30, Sestak's Senate campaign had raised $4 million, compared with roughly $2 million he spent in his 2007 Congressional bid.
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