Pat Toomey never should have been elected to the U.S. Senate in the first place. He was extraordinarily lucky to run in a great year for the Republicans against Joe Sestak, who had the bad fortune to have to beat Arlen Specter in a primary before getting the right to take on Toomey. In beating Specter, he divided a Democratic establishment that didn’t really care about Specter per se but wanted to demonstrate the power to protect defectors from the Republican Party.
These odd features of the 2010 Senate race in Pennsylvania will not be repeated, and Toomey is as close to a dead man walking as any politician not named Ron Johnson.
