Facing Primary Battle, Specter Shifts Leftward

Rand Paul and Marco Rubio up big, Harry Reid, Sharron Angle too close to call

(NEWSER) - With T-Minus one day to the election, here's where the most-watched races in the country stand:

• Harry Reid and Sharron Angle are locked in a dead heat; the latest Public Policy Polling survey has Angle squeaking ahead 47% to 46%.
• Looks like harping on the Aqua Buddha incident didn't help Jack Conway; Rand Paul is up 55% to 40%, according to Talking Points Memo , thanks to a huge last-minute surge in those with a negative view of Conway.
• Depending on who you believe, Chris Coons has either a 10% edge over Christine O'Donnell or a 21% edge. The Huffington Post breaks down the competing polls.
• Quinnipac has Marco Rubio leading Charlie Crist 42%-35%, with Democrat Kendrik Meek in last place with 15%.

Pat Toomey's taking especially heavy fire

(NEWSER) - As the midterms heat up, expect to hear the words “Wall Street” a lot. Democrats are hammering Republicans on their ties to Wall Street, no matter how tangential, and on their party’s opposition to financial reform legislation, the LA Times reports. Republicans, meanwhile, speak angrily about bailouts and downplay their financial industry ties—even though they’re raising significantly more money from Wall Street than Democrats this cycle. More»

It's a fairy tale, but it's just politics as usual

(NEWSER) - The story from the White House is that Bill Clinton, on Rahm Emanuel's behest, offered Joe Sestak an “unpaid advisory position” to drop out of the race against Arlen Specter. It's an obvious lie—come on, would Sestak even consider dropping out for so little?—and Joe Klein of Time is outraged. Not because it's a serious crime, but because dancing around the truth “may keep this way-overblown story in the news.” More»

White House counsel says no laws were broken

(NEWSER) - Drip by drip, we're getting a clearer picture of the White House's attempt to keep Joe Sestak out of the Arlen Specter race. Sestak today confirmed that Bill Clinton called him last summer, reports Politico . A portion of his statement: "He expressed concern over my prospects if I were to enter the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and the value of having me stay in the House of Representatives because of my military background. He said that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had spoken with him about my being on a Presidential Board while remaining in the House of Representatives. I said no." More»

He reportedly offered an unpaid advisory position

(NEWSER) - Bill Clinton has emerged in the middle of the Joe Sestak controversy. He's the man the White House asked to talk to Sestak about dropping out of the Pennsylvania Senate race to clear the way for Arlen Specter, reports the Washington Post . Clinton offered Sestak a "prominent, but unpaid, advisory position," reports the New York Times , and the White House counsel has concluded that the "unpaid" part means no laws were broken. More»