Reaction among Republicans to Senator Arlen Specter’s decision to defect to the Democratic party ranged from somber disappointment to outrage, and now the Republican National Committee hopes to capitalize on that anger.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele sent an e-mail to supporters expressing his outrage and disbelief that Specter was blaming his fellow Republicans for leaving. He beseeched party members to send in donations to help defeat Specter in the 2010 election.

“He simply believes he has a better chance of saving his political hide and his job as a Democrat,” Steele said in the e-mail. ”He loves the title of senator more than he loves the party — and the principles — that elected him and nurtured him.”

In Steele’s bid to gin up donations, he told supporters: “Some will use Specter’s defection as an excuse to fold the tent and give up. I believe that you are not one of those people. When Benedict Arnold defected to the British, George Washington didn’t fold the tent and give up either.”

Specter, who has broken with Republicans on several key votes, said that he decided to switch parties because the Republican party swerved further to the right and he recognized he would not likely survive a primary challenge against a more conservative Republican in Pennsylvania.

He was greeted at the White House on Wednesday with open arms by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden — which will likely spark more cash appeals from Republicans.

Specter and Obama acknowledged that the two would likely differ in the future. To that end, a key test vote will come later on Wednesday when the Senate votes on the Democratic-authored fiscal 2010 budget blueprint. Specter opposed the Senate version earlier this month.

“I know the decision Senator Specter made yesterday wasn’t easy.  It required long and careful consideration, and it required courage,” Obama said. ”But I know that it also reflects an independence that has been the hallmark of Arlen Specter’s career since the days he arrived in Washington.”

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Specter speaks to reporters at the White House with Obama and Biden looking on); Illustration of Specter courtesy of Paul Szep

Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, 79, of Pennsylvania appears to face a tough run next year for reelection to a sixth term.
 
And he can blame his problems largely on his decision last month to break ranks with fellow Republicans and vote for President Barack Obama’s $787 economic stimulus package.
    
Those are the findings of a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday.
 
The Connecticut-based university found that Specter, viewed as a moderate, trails former conservative congressman Pat Toomey, his likely Republican primary challenger, by a margin of 41 percent to 27 percent. Specter narrowly defeated Toomey in a 2004 primary battle.

Another and somewhat smaller poll by Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania was a mixed bag for Specter.
 
While the survey showed Specter leading Toomey 33 percent to 18 percent, it found that 49 percent of respondents were undecided or favored others. 

That survey of 662 people also found that less than half — 40 percent — believe Specter deserves another term, with 46 percent saying it is “time for a change.”
    
The Quinnipiac survey showed Democrats and independents backed Specter’s support of Obama’s stimulus package. But Republicans opposed it — 70 percent to 25 percent.

Both surveys were conducted in recent days and had a margin of error between plus or minus of three to four percentage points. 

“Pennsylvania Republicans are so unhappy with Sen. Specter’s vote for President Barack Obama’s stimulus package and so-called pork barrel spending that they are voting for a former congressman they hardly know,” said Clay Richards, assistant director of Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
 
Richards added, however, if Specter survives the primary, he would have a lot going for him in the general election since there currently seems to be no strong Democratic contender.
 
But Specter faces other problems.
 
He stepped into a political hornet’s nest on Tuesday when he opposed a bill to make it easier for workers to unionize, a top legislative goal of organized labor but anathema to many in the business community and his own party.
 
So if Specter wins the Republican primary, he can expect to be opposed by energized union supporters in the general election.

Click here for more Reuters political coverage

Reuters photo by Jonathan Ernst. (Specter and other senators talk to reporters about President Obama’s stimulus bill in Washington in February)

PHOENIX — It was a night for drinking whiskey rather than champagne at the Arizona Biltmore.
 
As Republican John McCain prepared his concession speech in a private room at the landmark Phoenix hotel, bottles of bubbly were most certainly not being popped in a nearby ballroom where long-faced Republicans were marking time. 
 
The race hadn’t yet been called for Barack Obama, but McCain had already lost Ohio, Pennsylvania and other key battleground states. But the giant TV screens weren’t showing election returns, and many still held out hope.
 
“Tonight as of right now, it’s still too close to call,” Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl told the crowd. “Win or lose, we’re going to have a tough four years ahead of us. We’re going to have to be a firewall against this radical leftist agenda.” 

Software engineer Ken Wharton likewise wasn’t ready to concede defeat.
 
“I’m going to wait until the end. It’s not over until it’s over,” said Wharton, who said he was worried that Obama would cut the military budget and back reparations for slavery.
 
Wedding planner Cynthia Ghelf likewise said she wouldn’t assume the worst until the California polls closed in half an hour. But she already had an escape plan: “I feel like we should move to Canada,” she said.
 
Ghelf’s friend Katie Kiesel, a stay-at-home mom, said she hoped the Republican party would learn to reach out to younger and more moderate voters and cater less to the conservative wing.
 
Others said the party should steer a course to the right. 
 
“He could have been a little more conservative,” Baptist preacher Jim Selma said of McCain. “His best move was appointing Sarah Palin. I think that energized the  base, and when he moved back toward the middle it got boring, I think, for the Republican side.”
 
By that point, officials were urging the partygoers to clear out of the ballroom and head to the hotel’s lawn. Polls on the West Coast were closing soon, and the results would be known quickly. It was time for McCain to speak.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Rick Scuteri (A McCain supporter looks on at McCain concession speech)

WASHINGTON - Election Day is finally here, the final opinion polls are in and now it’s time for Americans to make their way to the voting booth — but will weather be a factor?

According to the latest forecast maps, most of the country will not have adverse weather conditions, but there could be rain showers in two battleground states.

Good weather historically has helped Democrats.

Virginia, which has voted Republican since 1964, is now a toss-up state between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama and will likely see showers most of the day stretching from Newport News north to the suburbs outside Washington, D.C., and west toward Roanoke.

Parts of North Carolina, a state that has been leaning slightly toward McCain, will experience showers during the morning.

Meanwhile Florida, Ohio, Missouri and Pennsylvania, all battleground states critical to a McCain victory, should be clear. Other key states like Colorado and New Mexico, where Obama hopes to help his cause, are not expected to have bad weather.

Out West, Weather.com reported that showers are expected in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Joe Skipper (Voters in Boca Raton, Fla. line up to vote on Tuesday)

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia Phillies’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins, whose team won the baseball World Series last week, is hoping for a victory from Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Rollins, whose team beat the Tampa Bay Rays to clinch their first series victory since 1980, introduced Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden at his final rally before election day in Philadelphia.

“Tomorrow is an opportunity to make history again. We took the curse off by winning the championship. Now it’s time to take the curse off America,” Rollins said.

“Go out there and vote Obama. Go out there and vote so that we can have the next vice president — Mr. Joe Biden, who happens to be a great Phillies fan,” said Rollins.

The Delaware senator, who was born in Pennsylvania, said his “Phillies mad” wife had stayed off the campaign trail last week to watch the World Series.

“Now it is time for the rest of us to go and bat for Joe Biden and Barack Obama,” said Jill Biden, sporting her new red Phillies baseball jacket.

Rollins also presented Biden with a jersey, which said simply: “Biden 08.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

WASHINGTON - A slew of new state polls released on Wednesday showed some shift in momentum toward Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and away from Republican rival John McCain.

CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corp. released polls for five battleground states — Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada and Virginia — that showed Obama ahead among likely voters in all of them, though still within the margin of error in four.

Obama held a 51 percent to 47 percent lead in both Florida and Nevada, a 53 percent to 44 percent lead in Virginia, a 54 percent to 43 percent advantage in Minnesota and a narrow 49 percent to 48 percent edge in Missouri.

CNN said its previous surveys of those states had showed McCain was up in Nevada, Virginia and Missouri. And previously in Florida the two were tied and in Minnesota Obama was up two points.

Meanwhile, new polls by Quinnipiac University in three key states also showed a small uptick in support for Obama after last week’s presidential debate.

In Florida, Obama’s lead grew to 51 percent to 43 percent, from 49 percent to 43 percent before the debate.

In Ohio, Obama was up 50 percent to 42 percent, versus 49 percent to 42 percent prior to the debate. Remember, no Republican has won the White House without the state.

And finally in Pennsylvania, where Obama has struggled a bit, he widened his lead to 54 percent to 39 percent from before the debate when he was up 49 percent to 43 percent. 

A McCain spokeswoman, when asked about Obama’s jump in a handful of polls, stressed that the Arizona senator was an underdog in the race and that it was a difficult year for Republicans.

(additional reporting by Jeff Mason)

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credits: Reuters/Brian Snyder (McCain at the Harry S. Truman presidential library); Jason Reed (Obama at a rally in La Crosse, Wisc.)

PHILADELPHIA - Republican presidential candidate John McCain cut short his first public appearance without running-mate Sarah Palin after chanting supporters of Democratic rival Barack Obama interrupted his speech.

After lunching with a roundtable of women at Philadelphia’s Down Home Diner, McCain shook hands with supporters and strode up to a podium to deliver a statement. But as he spoke, chants of “Obama, Obama, Obama” filled the room.

Reporters craned forward trying to hear the Arizona senator. Unfortunately for McCain — and possibly overlooked by aides who planned the event — a section of the diner opened up to a market where a crowd had gathered behind a cordon.

A large contingent of Obama supporters showed up, mixed with some who had bumper stickers reading “Democrats for McCain”.

“It’s time to leave the talk behind and start shaking up Washington and fixing our economy, taking care of the problems facing our families. We’re going to give a tax cut to every family with a child,” he said.

His words were barely audible.

McCain’s supporters shouted “John McCain”, “John McCain,” “John McCain”. The duelling chants nearly drowned out the presidential hopeful’s voice.

“Pennsylvania is a battleground state as we can tell,” McCain said.

Meanwhile Palin, the Alaska governor, was on a flight back to her state. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania - Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden told his boyhood companions that Barack Obama would have been one of their friends, if he had been around when they were growing up.

“This guy gets it,” Biden, 65, said of his 47-year-old running mate, who could become the first black U.S. president.

Biden made the comments on a campaign visit to his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a blue collar city in a state central to his and Obama’s run for the White House. He described his old and predominately white neighborhood, known as Green Ridge, as a patriotic place where a person’s word was his bond and people stood up for what they believed in.

“I promise you. If Barack had been born here, he would have been our friend,” said Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware since 1973. “He’d cover your back.”

Under blue skies and a bright sun, Biden sat in the shade of a big tree in his old backyard with his mother, Jean, 90, and scores of old friends and neighbors and supporters.  He quoted his late father, Joseph, a former car salesman, as saying, “the measure of success is not whether you get knocked down. It is how quickly you get up.”

Biden and his family moved from Scranton to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1953. He is affectionately referred to as “Pennsylvania’s third senator” for repeatedly helping out the state during 35 years in the U.S. Senate.

Among those who greeted Biden in Scranton was Jimmy Kennedy, 68, a friend since grade school.   “He was a scrappy kid and when he got knocked down he jumped right back up,” recalled Kennedy, who is now a judge.

“He was little and scrawny and people would ask when we played football iin the alley, ‘Why would you pick him?’ I told ‘em,’ You’ll soon find out.’ He was the toughest kid out there.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Reuters/Matt Sullivan

DENVER — Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, 65, admits he’s getting a little touchy about the fact that he’s so much older than running mate Barack Obama , 47.

“If I hear one more time he was 11 years old when I went to the Senate, I’m going to smack somebody,” Biden joked, drawing laughter and applause at a breakfast meeting with convention delegates from Biden’s native state of Pennsylvania.

A smiling Biden, first elected to the Senate 35 years ago, noted there are just four senators in the 100-member chamber with more senority than him.

“But there are still 44 older than me,” Biden said, prompting more laughter.

On a serious note, Biden said he and Obama must capture Pennsylvania on Election Day to take the White House in their battle against Republican John McCain.

“We cannot win without winning Pennsylvania and it is that simple,” said Biden, who was born and raised in Scranton, Penn., and later moved to Delaware where he was elected to the Senate in 1972.

Promising to spend plenty of time campaigning in the state, Biden, affectionately known as “Pennsylvania’s third senator” for the work he has done for it in Congress, Biden said to sustained cheers and applause, “I’m coming home.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

YORK, Pa. - John McCain, teased as “that wrinkly, white-haired guy” by Paris Hilton, said on Tuesday he knew he wasn’t connecting with young voters but urged them to give him a hearing.

“I need to do a better job … with young voters in America and I want to reach out to them,” he told a former Sen. Hillary Clinton supporter now pondering whether to support him or his Democratic presidential opponent Barack Obama.

The questioner said during the town hall meeting in York, Pennsylvania he wasn’t sure what McCain stood for on issues like education that mattered to young voters.

“I would like to say ‘tell all your friends, come to the next townhall meeting.’ I’d like to meet and discuss with them … especially those who are undecided in this election,” McCain replied.

Bryce Wagoner, a 19-year still trying to make up his mind about who to vote for, said the Republican senator from Arizona
had not managed to ease his concern that social security would not be worth anything when he eventually retired.

“Everyone says that we need to fix it but nobody has a plan … he didn’t have any real solutions,” Wagoner said.

McCain later swung by Manheim Central High School to watch football practice and continue courting the youth vote.

After suggesting that they run over the press corps clustered in the center of the field, McCain told the squad — 15 times league champions since 1989 — that “you win as a team or you lose as a team,” before reminding them to study.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

Photo credit: Brian Snyder (McCain talks to veteran Steve Dunwoody at a campaign picnic in Maine)