Bush, you could have had a shot at a conservative Republican with Toomey. I voted for Toomey (last PA election before I moved to Maryland). I specifically registered as a Republican again to vote for Toomey (cuz I was mad at the Bush domestic agenda - since then, I decided we could have our differences until they get me mad enough to register Independant again). If Bush had supported Toomey, or at least withdrawn support from Specter, we could have won, and it would have been Toomey v. Hoefel. Not sure how that would have went down, but Toomey as the Junior PA Senator would have been much better than Specter, and Hoefel couldn't have been too much worse.

Of course, lets blame Santourum a bit too. Senator Rick Santourum, still the Junior Senator from PA - quite popular, espicially among conservatives, also campaigned for Specter. When those two got involved, despite my own sentitment, I knew it was curtains for Toomey.

Whereas Dowd is on record as being gracious only when she's not talking about Democrats. She clearly didn't get the word form John Kerry about working together and playing nice.