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Jun 30, 2009 6:25 pm US/Eastern
Former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey Eyes General Election
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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In Pittsburgh to address the Commonwealth Foundation, former Congressman Pat Toomey, a Republican, sharpened his political attack on now Democrat Arlen Specter. (File)
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Pat Toomey, a former congressman from the Lehigh Valley, is hardly a household name.
But among politicos, he's already established himself for having scared Arlen Specter out of the Republican Party.
That puts him in good shape to win the GOP nomination next spring, although pro-life activist Peg Luksik is still in the primary race.
But, more and more, Toomey's focus is on the general election.
Tessaro's in Bloomfield is a popular haunt for many Pittsburghers and it was Toomey's first visit to the place famous for its hamburgers.
"That's what I understand. I'm looking forward to one," Toomey told KDKA political editor Jon Delano.
Besides the good food, the Republican Senate candidate was there to raise money and he likes how the money game is going.
"We have raised over a million bucks in just about 10 weeks and that's a pretty good clip. I think we'll be among the top challengers in the country," he said.
Since his principal Republican primary challenger, Arlen Specter, switched parties, Toomey says Republicans have coalesced behind him.
"There's been a real consolidation of the Republican Party in support of my candidacy. The grassroots -- we have thousands, thousands of people signing up on line to join the campaign, to join the effort.
"The fundraising is going well, so by any measure I can think of it's going very well," he added.
But it's not clear that his opponent will be Specter, since Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak is likely to challenge Specter in the Democratic primary.
"Does it matter to you which one is your opponent?"
"It really doesn't, and one of the reasons it really doesn't matter to me what we have now is a complete dominance, complete one-party rule in Washington."
And one party rule, says Toomey, has lead to house passage of President Obama's energy bill.
"That's a very, very bad bill for Pennsylvania. It's bad for our economy. It imposes massive new taxes on all energy use, and everything we do involves some use of energy.
"It's particularly devastating to industrial states and coal states and Pennsylvania is both."
The energy bill is not the only bill supported by President Obama that Toomey opposes.
He's also against the president's health reform plan, his economic stimulus measure and the president's budget.
In short, Toomey says he would be a stronger check-and-balance on the president than either Democrat Arlen Specter or Joe Sestak.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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