Brian Beutler reports that at yesterday’s health care rally, Arlen Specter (D-PA) embraced the public plan that he’d opposed just a few months ago:
Speaking moments ago to a large and animated crowd of union organizers and health reform advocates in a brewing house just North of the Capitol, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) said he supports a public insurance option.
“Schumer has it right about having a public component,” Specter said.
I wrote a little while ago for The Daily Beast about the beneficial impact of primary campaigns on a political movement’s efficacy. And I think you can see that in the Specter-Sestak competition in Pennsylvania. Thus far, Joe Sestak hasn’t picked up much steam. But that’s okay, you just need a situation in which Specter is determined not to give Sestak an opening to set up a positive dynamic.