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Politico reports that former senator Chuck Hagel is endorsing Joe Sestak in his race for the Pennsylvania senate seat:
Pennsylvania Democrat Joe Sestak’s campaign for Senate is getting a much-needed bipartisan boost in a competitive race.
Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) will endorse the Democratic nominee at events in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on Tuesday, according to Sestak’s campaign.
Sestak faces former Rep. Pat Toomey in November, and recent polls show him lagging behind the Republican nominee. Sestak needs to shore up support from independents and Republicans in order to win the seat currently occupied by the man he defeated in the Democratic primary, Sen. Arlen Specter, a former Republican himself.
The feelings appear to be mutual between Sestak and Hagel. In a forum earlier this month, Sestak called Hagel the “No. 1 guy I’ve met” in the Senate.
“I talk to him probably every couple weeks,” Sestak said on Aug. 3. “I think he is the guy who I most admired in the Senate.”
Hagel, who decided not to seek reelection to the Senate in 2008, has a reputation for bucking his own party. He declined to endorse Arizona Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential contest, and his wife went a step further by backing Barack Obama.
It’s a shame that the article really doesn’t discuss why Hagel made this decision.
Is Chuck Hagel less conservative than Ben Nelson?
hagel is a real republican….
“The beauty of the very system we Republicans are pledged to restore and revitalize, the beauty of this federal system of ours, is in its reconciliation of diversity with unity. We must not see malice in honest differences of opinion, and no matter how great, so long as they are not inconsistent with the pledges we have given to each other in and through our Constitution.”
former GOP nominee for president
balconesfault -
Per Chris Cilizza of the WaPo, it may have something to do with the fact that he’s angling for an administration position.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/fix-endorsement-hierarchy/chuck-hagel-and-the-me-for-me.html
For those not drinking the koolaid – this is very interesting but not surprising.
Check the Politico comments – the Club for Growth lovers are hard at work. What fun it would be to see this operation at work. Easy to imagine there are 100 people with 100 different web access accounts cranking out similar comments for various candidates all over the US. It all sounds so similar.
Maybe there are a large number of people who prospered by their affiliation with the Club but no means does that represent even near a majority.
Fantastic. This is as much a vote against Toomey (and his club for growth) as a vote for Sestak; this bipartisan endorsement reminds me of the similarly motivated elected members of the GOP endorsing Reid in Nevada over Angle, putting country before party. Hagel did the right thing, as usual. I’m impressed.
Toomey was my rep. in the lehigh valley and he was terrible, a complete cipher. He did not do a single thing for the district in his years there.
As to Hagel, I have no problems with Democrats endorsing Republicans and vice versa. Friendship should trump ideology. I have a friend who loves Rush Limbaugh, (whom I loathe) but if he were to run for some office I would bust my ass for him.
I’ve always been partial to Hagel. Didn’t necessarily agree with him on alot of issues, but he always struck me as a true honest politician.
@abj:
That Cilizza article doesn’t seem to be based on anything except speculation. Its not even a rumor, a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend secret message . . . just “it could be this because there’s no evidence that it ISN’T this”.
sure, it could be to notch a favor in the “you owe me” collum . . . but you (and Cilizza) are implying that Hagel is being a whore. Who do you want me to endorse? A pillow? You got it! Anything for you, Massa! Hagel certainly playes the same game as every other politician, but he’s been pretty far removed from pure whoredom for the entirety of his career.
@easton:
You’d think, having lived in Allentown and Bethlehem (I’m sorry . . . “Bethlum”), I’d have guessed where “easton” comes from.
Duh.
busboy33 -
Yeah, the article is somewhat speculative, and certainly doesn’t present evidence of a quid pro quo. I agree that Hagel isn’t the whoring type, but I do think it’s interesting that he’s decided to jump back into the spotlight now, after more or less complete silence since retiring. I don’t know what his motivations are – maybe he just really likes Sestak, maybe he thinks a Navy admiral’s perspective would be valuable in the Senate, etc, etc…who knows. If I had to guess, it would be some combination of a) respect for Sestak and b) increasing his profile (particularly in light of Gates’ likely retirement). It was probably for a variety of reasons.
busboy, ha. While I reside in Mexico Easton is my permanent residence. I like Dent well enough.
Did you go to Liberty, Freedom, or Becahi? I don’t know Allentown high schools, or did you live there as an adult.
@abj:
No doubt there is some quantity of q.p.q. involved — it is politics, after all. I’m probably just being a little sensitive to perceived RINOing of a GOPer I actually like. Hagel was one of a minor handful (him, Specter, and pre-2001 McCain) that I could respect, and there’s so much of “pure fealty or get out” going around the party lately I’m probably being a little defensive.
Also, I’m admittedly fairly biased about Hagel. His brother Tom was my Crim Law and Trial Practice instructor (and one of the few instructors that actually knew what they were talking about), and my first impression of Sen. Hagel was a picture of him in his leathers sitting on a Harley drinking a beer. Any politician I can see myself at a party with . . . I like.
@easton:
If I say Moravian Academy . . . will you still talk to me?
Did Bethlehem in my teen years, then came back to spend a few years in Allentown as an adult (04-07). Although right now I’m packing for a move to Tenn., I hope to eventually chart a course back to the area.
Yeah, I know Moravian, on Green Pond road near Notre Dame, yeesh, small freaking world. My brother graduated from Moravian College so I got no beef with Moravian academy, bit pricey though from what I understand (the College, hell yeah)
I was just on that road not last week taking a short cut back from Bath. It is a pretty campus, I will give you that.
busboy33 -
No worries, I didn’t think your response to the article I posted was defensive. In general, though, going on some sort of RINO-hunting crusade is the last thing I’d ever want to do, since I’m not exactly an orthodox conservative myself. Not to mention that I don’t think it’s a good idea to excommunicate a guy who could easily kick my ass. He must be pushing 65, but the dude’s still a badass.
I have a lot of respect for Hagel, particularly his views on foreign policy. Other than Dick Lugar, I can’t think of a current GOP Senator whose expertise in foreign policy rivals his. (McCain is far too enraptured with the neocons and myopically supportive of Mikheil Saakashvilli). Not that there are many serious foreign policy voices on the Democratic side of the aisle, either.
I’m sure his brother is a character. Did you go to law school in Nebraska?
Next thing you know Hagel will join Habitat for Humanity, and go on a Friendship Tour to Gaza.
@abj:
Dayton, Ohio for law school. No idea what he was doing teaching there, but thank God. Never got to see him practice in the pit for real, but he used the Rules of Evidence like a samauri used a sword. Really drove home the difference between being competent at the game and ripping the still-beating heart out of your opponent so they could see it before the died.
“Not to mention that I don’t think it’s a good idea to excommunicate a guy who could easily kick my ass.”
A sound policy position which I fully endorse.
@easton:
man . . . now I’m homesick.
Never saw the bill for high school, but I’m sure it was harsh (thx Mom and Dad!). Was a damn good education though. One of our optional field trips was to the Soviet Union before the collapse . . . I have no idea how they swung that.