Coaxing Arlen Specter into switching parties and running for re-election as a Democrat was a major coup for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is bending the Senate's schedule to accommodate a presidential fundraiser for Specter Tuesday afternoon in Pennsylvania.Reid announced Friday that the Senate would hold no votes after 3 p.m. Tuesday. His office later said that the scheduling decision was meant to accommodate a long-planned fundraiser that President Obama is headlining in Philadelphia to benefit Specter's campaign.
The move could delay efforts to finish work on the fiscal 2010 transportation spending bill, which the Senate began considering Thursday.
| Not to mention everything stacked up behind it. I think this is a brilliant idea, and Senator Reid ought to do it often in the next few months. After all, it's going to cost beaucoup bucks to offset the half million-plus* Tea Partiers on the Mall on Saturday, and the honourable senator from Pennsylvania was already at risk. *per Old Patriot's analysis of photos of the march, the Rantburg official estimate is 500,000-800,000 participants. |
Event organizers hope to raise $2.5 million for Pennsylvania Senate Victory 2010, a joint fundraising committee that will share proceeds with Specter's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is backing Specter over Sestak.
Attendees will include Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, Democratic Gov. Edward G. Rendell and Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter. No other senators are expected to attend.