Pennsylvania has a lot of Democrats who will vote for a moderate Republican, but who will not ever, no, never vote for a second "pure" conservative in the Senate. Lots and lots of them live in and around Philly, which is also Arlen's old stomping ground.

Pennsylvania also has quite a few moderate Republicans who believe that Rick Santorum is enough. Faced with a choice of Toomey or any Democrat not directly related to Satan, enough of them could swing left.

And then there are people like me, who are Republicans because we want to be able to vote in local primaries, where important local races for school board, township supervisor and county commissioner are really decided. (November is a rubber stamp for the results of the spring Republican primary.) I would have absolutely voted against Toomey. Heck, I did. But I'll have a hard time voting against Arlen unless I see an outstanding candidate from the Democrats. Arlen has done a pretty creditable job for the state. I don't give a rat's rump what he does for the President. He's not in the Senate to represent the White House.

Clymer? The Constitution Party? Can you say "Ralph Nader"? If Arlen loses, it will be to Hoeffel, the Democrat (about whom I know very little as of the present writing). Pennsylvania will in that case have one Democratic Senator, something that she would have been all but guaranteed to have if Toomey were the nominee. If the conservatives want to vote for Clymer and lose on principle, I say, let 'em.