Sen. Arlen Specter couldn’t make the funeral today of fellow Democrat and Pennsylvania powerhouse Rep. John Murtha, who died last week from gall bladder surgery complications.

The aging Specter discovered just last year that he wasn’t a Republican all these years but belonged better in the majority party of President Obama. Now, despite the president’s promised backing, Specter faces a daunting primary challenge from Rep. Joe Sestak.

We don’t know what regrets Specter sent to the Murtha family and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other mourning Dems about his inability to be there to bury the tough old ex-Marine Murtha this morning. But the fact is, as pointed out by the eagle-eyed Daniel Malloy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Specter was in California.