In a historic upset, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) has defeated incumbent Senator Arlen Specter (?-PA) in today's Democratic primary. Sestak will now move on to the general election in November as the Democratic candidate, facing Republican candidate Pat Toomey.
Specter, to his credit, conceded shortly after 10:00 p.m. and has so far not pulled a "Lieberman", i.e., declared a run as an independent after losing a party primary.
Considering the effort expended by national and local party officials, from President Obama and Vice-President Biden to Governor Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, on Specter's behalf once this longtime Republican rebranded himself as a Democrat, the choice of Sestak by a majority of the state's Democratic voters should be seen as a strong rebuke to the party establishment.
After all, isn't the point of a primary to let the voters choose their candidates? Wasn't the primary supposed to be a reform to move away from the old "smoke-filled room", where the party's power brokers met in secret to choose their official slate of candidates?
It seems the establishment of the Democratic Party has forgotten about small-d democracy.
As Sestak said tonight, "This is what democracy looks like: a win for the people."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment