Not for nothing is Arlen Specter known as a fierce campaigner. This morning, I caught his latest attack ad (viewable here) on Democratic rival Joe Sestak.

The ad refers to Sestak as “No-Show Joe,” citing some 127 votes he’s missed in Congress. (Team Specter has even helpfully crafted a Web site on the matter.) It also attacks Sestak at the very heart of his campaign — by challenging his military service. 

Specter’s ad notes that Sestak, a three-star admiral in the U.S. Navy, was removed from a command post for creating a “poor command climate.” 

As the Navy Times reported in 2005, Sestak was “administratively reassigned” from his job as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations shortly after Mike Mullen became operations chief.

“A source within the Navy Department said there were no allegations of misconduct on the part of Sestak,” the Times reported. “Rather, he said, the move is being made because of poor command climate.”

Sestak will be in town later today, appearing at a noon gathering in Mellon Square Park with gender-equality advocates. No doubt the ad’s charges will come up in discussions with reporters. 

In the meantime, I’ll just say this: I’ve previously felt that Sestak’s advantage was that nobody — nobody — gets excited about voting for Arlen Specter. But as others have tried to warn me, that’s not how Arlen Specter gets elected. Instead, he gets elected by making sure that no one gets excited about voting for anyone else either. That’s what he’s doing to Sestak … and right now, it looks like he’ll be doing it to Pat Toomey in just a few months.

UPDATE: Sestak has launched his own ad today. It’s a minute-long introductory ad that takes a much more upbeat approach to the race. It touts Sestak’s military service and his claim to represent a “new generation of leadership.”

 

This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2010.

E-mail Chris Potter about this post.

3 replies on “Another Killer Specter Ad”

  1. As to “missing votes”, I know Sestak touts the fact that he was ranked “the most productive member of Congress” for the amount of legislation he passed. Those reporters might want to ask questions that compare metrics for those claims.

  2. @ Bram —

    Well, that claim dates back to Sestak’s first year in Congress, where the House majority leader credited him as being the most productive FRESHMAN member.

    http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2007/12/26/past%20stories/19995642.txt

    Not trying to diminish the accomplishment; just putting it in context.

    In fact, one could argue that Sestak’s drive — which he’s made a centerpiece of his campaign — opened him up to Specter’s attack. It’s been reported elsewhere that the problem with the “command climate” under Sestak was that he drove staffers too hard … with late-night/weekend meetings etc.

    And of course, the irony here is that Specter himself has a reputation for being hard on his staff.

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