August 24th, 2009

Reports the Morning Call:

In an unusual bit of gamesmanship, U.S. Senate hopefuls Pat Toomey and U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak agreed Friday to face one another at a town hall-style meeting in Allentown next month to discuss the proposed health care overhaul.

The event, scheduled for Sept. 2, came about after two days of jovial bickering about health care between the campaigns of the two candidates, who have reserved their strongest barbs for U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in a battle that is still in its infancy. The town hall will bring together Toomey and Sestak prematurely in the race, considering the two candidates are vying for party nominations — Sestak as a Democrat, Toomey as a Republican — that won’t be decided for nine months.

Specter, whose fiery town halls dominated the health care discussion last week and thrust the five-term Democrat onto the front pages of newspapers nationwide, was left out of the two candidates’ invitation, although Toomey suggested he and Specter sit down separately at some point.

Specter campaign manager Christopher Nicholas declined to comment.

Muhlenberg College political science professor Christopher Borick, whom Toomey proposed as the event’s moderator, called the Toomey-Sestak sit-down an intriguing strategic maneuver as both men seek to raise their profiles in a contest whose 29-year incumbent, Specter, is widely known around the state.

Find out more from the Morning Call.