What Senator Olympia Snowe Get Wrong On Her Arlen Specter Defection Op-Ed

Republican Senator Snowe of Maine has an rather predicatable Op-Ed up in the NYT. See We Didn’t Have to Lose Arlen Specter

It is a depressing bit of writing because it just follows the predictable boilerplate.

I have no problem with Republicans that are more liberal than me. I understand that to be a majority party we have to have moderates. I rarely go after liberal Republicans on this blog. The only ones I go after are those that scream and rant against social conservatives. See Whitman from New Jersey and that nut in Rhode Island Chafee.

What is Snowe's piece missing? Well the cardinal rule of politics. That is all politics is local.

She says in part:
It is true that being a Republican moderate sometimes feels like being a cast member of “Survivor” — you are presented with multiple challenges, and you often get the distinct feeling that you’re no longer welcome in the tribe. But it is truly a dangerous signal that a Republican senator of nearly three decades no longer felt able to remain in the party.

Senator Specter indicated that his decision was based on the political situation in Pennsylvania, where he faced a tough primary battle. In my view, the political environment that has made it inhospitable for a moderate Republican in Pennsylvania is a microcosm of a deeper, more pervasive problem that places our party in jeopardy nationwide.

I have said that, without question, we cannot prevail as a party without conservatives. But it is equally certain we cannot prevail in the future without moderates.

Sigh there is a huge problem here. First the polling and this little tidbit she seems not to be aware of

As the Corner caught also this morning:
Notes on Specter, Part I [David Freddoso]
In the poll that appears to have spooked Arlen Specter out of the Republican Party, Specter led former Rep. Pat Toomey (R) among moderate Republicans by only 8 points. And he's the incumbent. That says quite a bit about the level of disillusionment with Specter, and tells a much more complex story than you'll hear listening to the echo chambers of MSNBC.
04/29 08:10 AMShare

But blame the conservatives!!! Again all politics are local and his numbers among moderates show even there a huge level of fatigue with Specter. Most voters are not watching the cable news networks and hearing from David Gergen on why they are voting that way.

Also lets be blunt. Specter in the general ,for a man of such long term service, has had some razor thin general election victories

In 1992 he managed 49 against a serious opponent and he received only 52 percent in 2004 against former Rep. Joe Hoeffel (D). He seems to have a depressing number , from his electoral viewpoint , of conservative to moderate dems voting against him. In the real world many of these voters are slaves to party ID so something is up.

Perhaps overall Voters are just tired of Specter!! Again it is not apparent that despite what the Democrats in DC want that Democrats will go flocking to Specter even in his own primary.