STATE COLLEGE — U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak isn’t accustomed to being readily recognized this far away from his Delaware County district near Philadelphia.
So when a reporter spotted him in a crowded downtown restaurant
Sunday afternoon and introduced himself, the two-term congr essman’s reaction was not feigned nonchalance, but genuine surprise.
“I’m impressed by your research,” he said.
If it had been U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in the restaurant, Specter surely would have drawn at least a small crowd from the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts patrons. Sestak, except for the reporter, went in and out unnoticed.
And so it goes on Sestak’s whirlwind tour through all 67 Pennsylvania counties — Centre County was No. 42 — before he formally declares he’s a candidate for the U.S. Senate next year, challenging Specter for the Democratic nomination in May.
Specter, 79 — the five-term Senate veteran who switched parties in late April to escape defeat in the Republican Party primary by former Congressman Pat Toomey — has already announced plans to run again, albeit for the first time as a Democrat.
Sestak, 56, addressed and took questions from more than two dozen people on Sunday — most if not all Democrats, several of them elected local officials — who gathered at Democratic headquarters at 224 S. Allen St., across from the borough municipal building.
In general, Sestak portrayed Specter as a pro-Bush Republican at the core who changed parties not for principle but to keep his job.
“I think principle matters,” Sestak said. “I think it’s what’s lacking so often in our politics in Washington.”
The retired three-star Navy admiral, who commanded an aircraft carrier battle group during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, said he supports stem cell research, abortion rights and gay rights and the Employee Free Choice Act. He said the cap-and-trade energy bill that just narrowly passed the House “is not strong enough.”
Asked by State College school board candidate Jim Leous to name a book that has changed his way of thinking, Sestak cited “The Ambition and the Power: Jim Wright and the Will of the House,” by John Barry, because it underscores the need “to be principled, but to reach across the aisle.”
Many in the room Sunday came away impressed. No one left the 60- minute campaign talk before it was over — not even with the arts festival beckoning under clear skies through the open doors outside.
Borough Councilman Ron Filippelli, asked for his reaction after the talk, said: “Very smart — you mean my first impression? — very smart.”
State High graduate and Penn State student Bill van Saun, who worked for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign last year, said he’d come to Sunday’s meeting uncertain whether he preferred Specter or Sestak for senator.
“I like Specter because he’s a moderate,” van Saun said. But after the Sestak talk, he said, “I went up and told his staff that was there that I’d be more than happy to work for him. I gave them my contact information.”
Mike Joseph can be reached at 235-3910.
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