PITTSBURGH — Sen. Arlen Specter told Pennsylvania’s Democratic leaders Saturday he’s "pleased and proud” to be back in the party he left shortly after launching his political career more than four decades ago.
Specter’s speech capped two days of socializing in which the atmosphere of party unity that Gov. Ed Rendell and state party Chairman T.J. Rooney sought was clouded only by a small rally and low-key campaigning by prospective Specter challengers in the 2010 primary.
Specter, 79, said his parents were FDR Democrats, and that he was a JFK Democrat. He said he stayed in the party until after he won his first elective office — Philadelphia district attorney — on the Republican ticket in 1965 and he enrolled in the GOP after the general election.
On both days, second-term U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who has said he is likely to challenge Specter for the nomination, quietly mingled with state committee members to make his case.
Sestak, a retired Navy admiral, is the highest-ranking ex-military officer elected to the House.
by the associated press
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