It’s not a huge shock, but Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach said he isn’t interested in running for the Senate. The GOP senatorial nomination is now all-but-officially Pat Toomey’s.
Gerlach has been mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate, and he’s said he’s running either for that office or for reelection.
Other interesting Pennsylvania news:
The strong backing of Democratic Party leaders has done little to change slumping public support for the party’s newest convert, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. Only 28 percent of all those surveyed say that he deserves re-election, according to the latest Keystone Poll, and double that number say it’s time for a change. Specter’s party switch, announced April 28, has hurt his job-performance ratings among Democrats as well as Republicans, according to a telephone survey of 498 registered voters, conducted last week by the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College.