Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., has no apologies for the way he has led his career and his lifetime in public service, he said at an AU College Democrats event held Nov. 16.
Although Specter has worked in Congress since 1980, serves on 13 Senate committees and is running for re-election in 2010, the 79-year-old shows no sign of slowing down as he prepares to fend off a Senate primary challenge from Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa.
In fact, Specter rushed from a vote on the Senate floor to the Mary Graydon Center when the AU Democrats brought him to campus Monday night. He met briefly with Pennsylvanian students and spoke to a full University Club about partisan bickering on Capitol Hill, personal legislative accomplishments and the direction of the Democratic Party. A sometimes heated, often humorous question-and-answer session followed the nine-minute address. His switch from Republican to Democratic affiliation was a frequent topic.
“I think partisanship and polarization is at an all-time high,” Specter said. “I tried to bring moderation to the Republican Party, but there is no moderation. No one would talk to the Democrats.”
Specter viewed the $787 billion stimulus package as a necessity on the scale of the Great Depression and said he was “prepared to help President Obama” regardless of the repercussions from the GOP.
“I cast the key vote for the stimulus package,” he said. “I knew that it would be the death knell of my relationship with the Republican Party ... A change of registration is not an unusual thing, especially when the change was caused by the stimulus package ... It’s not an easy decision to make, but I think it was the right decision.”
As the Senate prepares to debate and vote on its version of the House of Representatives’ Affordable Health Care for America Act, Specter counts himself as one of the Senators needed to pass the bill.
“I think we will get the 60 votes to proceed [with the public option],” Specter said.
Elizabeth Rademacher, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs and a resident of Newtown, Pa., believes that despite his age, Specter managed to connect with the college audience.
“I agree with many of Sen. Specter’s political views, but more importantly, I agree with him that we need less polarization and partisanship in politics today,” Rademacher said. “Like Specter, I consider myself a political moderate ... What I think is important is that he ... doesn’t see purely in blue or red.”
Chad Reichard, a freshman in SPA from Franklin County, Pa., referred to the senator as “Specter the Defector” and said he “never aligned with Specter, regardless of his party.” However, he enjoyed the senator’s overall presentation.
“It was good that [Specter] was able to step off his high horse and visit some college students,” Reichard said. “He was a good speaker, and I enjoyed listening to him, and I have the utmost respect for the man himself. I was happy to see him keep his composure.”
During the question-and-answer session, Specter fielded questions from a long line of students on topics including torture, cap-and-trade legislation, the Stupak amendment to the health care bill, LGBT equality, legalization of marijuana and U.S. military policy in the Middle East.
When responding to one student, Specter said he felt his greatest accomplishment in office has been his leadership and success in fundraising for the National Institutes of Health.
Specter also often mentioned his policy points and his 2010 campaign against primary challenger Sestak.
“I know that a lot of people say that they hope he doesn’t get reelected now that he’s switched parties, but I think that the issues that he supports should be more important than the party he identifies with,” Rademacher said.
Reichard said that if Specter does become the Democratic candidate, his chances of winning over Republican candidate Pat Toomey are comparable to “a snowball in the inner depths of the Earth’s core.”
Rademacher is not sure whether or not she will support Specter in 2010.
“I definitely haven’t ruled out the possibility of voting for him just because he changed parties,” she said. “I hope that in the coming elections people don’t just think about the controversy. He’s definitely had the experience to prove that he knows how to do his job.”
Specter, who said he believes he has a better chance against Toomey than Sestak does, remains optimistic about his bid to remain the longest-serving Pennsylvanian senator regardless of Sestak’s growing popularity.
“Sestak has a well-earned reputation for working hard, but no one works as hard as Arlen Specter,” he said.
You can reach this writer at news@theeagleonline.com.
