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Caution: Specter says President has no mandate
Caution: Specter says President has no mandate
Posted on Thu, Nov. 04, 2004
By Amy Worden, Carrie Budoff and Steve Goldstein
Inquirer Staff Writers
Invigorated by a decisive win and the prospect of assuming a more prominent role in the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter cautioned President Bush yesterday not to interpret his own victory as a clear mandate, and urged him to respond to the Republican Party's more moderate wing.
Specter, as presumptive chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that he would block any Bush nominee to the Supreme Court who opposed abortion rights. Reiterating his position that a woman's right to choose is "inviolate," he said overturning Roe v. Wade today would be akin to trying to reverse Brown v. Board of Education, the court's 1954 landmark desegregation decision.
Barring unforeseen GOP objections, Specter, 74, should assume the committee chairmanship in January. He also sent an unsubtle message to the White House that he expects nominees for the federal bench to be of the highest caliber, and took a critical swipe at the stature of the current court.
At a news conference less than 12 hours after winning a record fifth Senate term, Specter wasted no time in asserting himself.
"If you have a race that is won by a percent or two, you have a narrowly divided country, and that's not a traditional mandate," he said. "President Bush will have that very much in mind."
"The number-one item on my agenda is to try to move the party to the center," Specter said. "I want to focus on the politics of inclusion."
Specter spoke bluntly, as if he regarded himself as a "free agent," in the phrase of a political analyst, either because of his new power or because his fifth term might be his last.
This is the exact reason I voted for him.
To win the new term, Specter defeated Democratic U.S. Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel by 11 percentage points, making the outcome one of his more decisive victories in 24 years.
He picked up more votes - almost 2.9 million - than ever before, and earned the second-largest plurality of his Senate campaigns. Specter offset a poor showing in the city by sweeping the Philadelphia suburbs and winning commanding margins through the rest of the state.
When recent polls showed Hoeffel down by more than 20 percentage points, "that was when I thought people had just decided that they would stay with seniority," Hoeffel said in an interview yesterday.
The campaign could have used more money for TV commercials, Hoeffel said, but he was pleased with how the race was conducted.
"I really felt we had a good chance of winning," Hoeffel said. "An 11-point margin is not a close margin, so it didn't work out as I hoped it would."
The Senate seniority that Specter emphasized so often during the campaign will likely take center stage in the coming months if Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, leaves the bench. In addition, a number of other justices are thought to be considering retirement.
Yesterday, Specter described Rehnquist as "gravely ill" before taking a jab at the chief justice and his colleagues, saying there were no longer legal "giants" on the bench of the caliber of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis and Benjamin Cardozo.
"With all due respect, we don't have them on [the court] now," he said.
Specter's comments on judicial appointments were what conservatives feared - that despite receiving the President's help during the primary to overcome a conservative challenger, Specter would hold firm to his centrist principles with court nominees.
"There will be all eyes on Specter to see how he reacts to who the President selects," said Sarah Binder, an expert in the selection of judges at the Brookings Institute in Washington. "I'm sure the administration will consult with Specter to see what will fly."
Specter, who is in line to succeed the committee's current chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), has been criticized by Hoeffel and others for vowing to appoint "centrist" judges while supporting several Bush nominees, including right-wing judges who opposed abortion rights.
But some political observers say it might be Specter, whose moderate views have alienated conservative Republicans, rather than Bush who will feel the heat from both sides of the political spectrum.
"Over the next several years Specter will be on the hot seat in a really big way," said Mark J. Rozell, a political scientist at George Mason University in Virginia. "Specter is not popular, especially among conservatives. But because of Bush's victory, the conservatives have high expectations. This could be real intra-party trouble for them."
Former Pennsylvania Rep. Bob Walker, who held the second-ranking leadership post when Newt Gingrich was speaker of the House, said that chairs of full committees "are real powerful people, and the more powerful the committee, the more influence they have."
Specter, said Walker, "will have the power to negotiate on Senate matters beyond his committee post" by virtue of his chairmanship.
As Specter settles into his new Washington role, Hoeffel will leave Congress, having given up his House seat to run for the Senate. Hoeffel, a lawyer, said he did not know what he would do next.
Colleagues and friends say he could challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum in 2006, but Hoeffel would say yesterday only that "I have no plans to run for any office."
Jon Delano, a political analyst at Carnegie Mellon University, said that despite Hoeffel's loss, "he is someone who clearly has a future if he wants it."
"He should take a lesson from Arlen Specter, who ran three times and lost before he won," Delano said. "That is a good role model."
I am honored to have voted for one of the only men in the country who has the nuts and the power to stand up to gw&friends. Cheers to you Senator Spector!
Posted on Thu, Nov. 04, 2004
By Amy Worden, Carrie Budoff and Steve Goldstein
Inquirer Staff Writers
Invigorated by a decisive win and the prospect of assuming a more prominent role in the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter cautioned President Bush yesterday not to interpret his own victory as a clear mandate, and urged him to respond to the Republican Party's more moderate wing.
Specter, as presumptive chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested that he would block any Bush nominee to the Supreme Court who opposed abortion rights. Reiterating his position that a woman's right to choose is "inviolate," he said overturning Roe v. Wade today would be akin to trying to reverse Brown v. Board of Education, the court's 1954 landmark desegregation decision.
Barring unforeseen GOP objections, Specter, 74, should assume the committee chairmanship in January. He also sent an unsubtle message to the White House that he expects nominees for the federal bench to be of the highest caliber, and took a critical swipe at the stature of the current court.
At a news conference less than 12 hours after winning a record fifth Senate term, Specter wasted no time in asserting himself.
"If you have a race that is won by a percent or two, you have a narrowly divided country, and that's not a traditional mandate," he said. "President Bush will have that very much in mind."
"The number-one item on my agenda is to try to move the party to the center," Specter said. "I want to focus on the politics of inclusion."
Specter spoke bluntly, as if he regarded himself as a "free agent," in the phrase of a political analyst, either because of his new power or because his fifth term might be his last.
This is the exact reason I voted for him.
To win the new term, Specter defeated Democratic U.S. Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel by 11 percentage points, making the outcome one of his more decisive victories in 24 years.
He picked up more votes - almost 2.9 million - than ever before, and earned the second-largest plurality of his Senate campaigns. Specter offset a poor showing in the city by sweeping the Philadelphia suburbs and winning commanding margins through the rest of the state.
When recent polls showed Hoeffel down by more than 20 percentage points, "that was when I thought people had just decided that they would stay with seniority," Hoeffel said in an interview yesterday.
The campaign could have used more money for TV commercials, Hoeffel said, but he was pleased with how the race was conducted.
"I really felt we had a good chance of winning," Hoeffel said. "An 11-point margin is not a close margin, so it didn't work out as I hoped it would."
The Senate seniority that Specter emphasized so often during the campaign will likely take center stage in the coming months if Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, leaves the bench. In addition, a number of other justices are thought to be considering retirement.
Yesterday, Specter described Rehnquist as "gravely ill" before taking a jab at the chief justice and his colleagues, saying there were no longer legal "giants" on the bench of the caliber of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis and Benjamin Cardozo.
"With all due respect, we don't have them on [the court] now," he said.
Specter's comments on judicial appointments were what conservatives feared - that despite receiving the President's help during the primary to overcome a conservative challenger, Specter would hold firm to his centrist principles with court nominees.
"There will be all eyes on Specter to see how he reacts to who the President selects," said Sarah Binder, an expert in the selection of judges at the Brookings Institute in Washington. "I'm sure the administration will consult with Specter to see what will fly."
Specter, who is in line to succeed the committee's current chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), has been criticized by Hoeffel and others for vowing to appoint "centrist" judges while supporting several Bush nominees, including right-wing judges who opposed abortion rights.
But some political observers say it might be Specter, whose moderate views have alienated conservative Republicans, rather than Bush who will feel the heat from both sides of the political spectrum.
"Over the next several years Specter will be on the hot seat in a really big way," said Mark J. Rozell, a political scientist at George Mason University in Virginia. "Specter is not popular, especially among conservatives. But because of Bush's victory, the conservatives have high expectations. This could be real intra-party trouble for them."
Former Pennsylvania Rep. Bob Walker, who held the second-ranking leadership post when Newt Gingrich was speaker of the House, said that chairs of full committees "are real powerful people, and the more powerful the committee, the more influence they have."
Specter, said Walker, "will have the power to negotiate on Senate matters beyond his committee post" by virtue of his chairmanship.
As Specter settles into his new Washington role, Hoeffel will leave Congress, having given up his House seat to run for the Senate. Hoeffel, a lawyer, said he did not know what he would do next.
Colleagues and friends say he could challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum in 2006, but Hoeffel would say yesterday only that "I have no plans to run for any office."
Jon Delano, a political analyst at Carnegie Mellon University, said that despite Hoeffel's loss, "he is someone who clearly has a future if he wants it."
"He should take a lesson from Arlen Specter, who ran three times and lost before he won," Delano said. "That is a good role model."
I am honored to have voted for one of the only men in the country who has the nuts and the power to stand up to gw&friends. Cheers to you Senator Spector!
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