Arlen Specter

Some Republicans believe the Obama administration may have broken the law in offering Democrat Joe Sestak a job in exchange for bowing out of his bid for Senate against White House-supported Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter.

The White House revealed on Friday that Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel actually had former President Bill Clinton ask Sestak last February to drop out of his race for the Democratic Senate nomination -- a race the challenger eventually won. In response, Sestak told reporters that during that telephone conversation with Clinton he declined the administration's offer for a non-paying presidential advisory position.

Following the lead of Representative Darrell Issa (R-California), Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas) says there could be inappropriate actions that need further investigation...

Rep. Joe Sestak's allegation that the White House offered him a job to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary race against Arlen Specter is a crime that could lead to the impeachment of President Obama, Rep. Darrell Issa said.

But the decision by the Pennsylvania congressman not to elaborate on a so-called deal also could become a political problem as Sestak tries for the U.S. Senate seat.

The White House reportedly is going to formally address the allegation in the next few days. In the meantime, Issa, R-Calif., is one of many inside and outside Washington who want the Democratic Senate primary candidate to explain in detail what offer the White House made...

The White House continues to avoid discussing details on whether Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak was offered a job if he skipped the Pennsylvania Senate primary but spokesman Robert Gibbs said Sunday that lawyers reviewed conversations and found "nothing inappropriate."

"I'm not a lawyer. But lawyers in the White House and others have looked into conversations that were had with Congressman Sestak. And nothing inappropriate happened," Gibbs told CBS' "Face the Nation."

"I'm not going to get further into what the conversations were. People that have looked into them assure me that they weren't inappropriate in any way," he said...

(CNSNews.com) – Fresh off a win over incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, Rep. Joe Sestak is still obligated to answer questions about a job he says the White House offered him as an inducement not to run against Specter, a leading House Republican said.

“Could the reason why Congressman Joe Sestak refuses to name names is because the very people who tried to bribe him are now his benefactors?” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a statement Wednesday.

“For months, Sestak has repeatedly said without equivocation that the White House illegally offered him a federal job in exchange for dropping out of the race,” Issa said...

The anti-Washington mood in the country has Washington on edge, as two moderate Democrats’ jobs were on the line Tuesday, with one of them losing his, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Most veteran Democratic strategists agree that the Senate race in the Keystone state now will be much harder for Democrats with the Cong. Joe Sestak running against conservative Republican Pat Toomey, but either man will be new to the Senate. Each will start with no seniority.

Specter, in the Senate for more than 30 years, had gained a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee, known for members bringing home the bacon.  read more »

WASHINGTON - With the electorate's intense anger reverberating across the country, this is all but certain: It's an anti-Washington, anti-establishment year. And candidates with ties to either better beware.

Any doubt about just how toxic the political environment is for congressional incumbents and candidates hand-picked by national Republican and Democratic leaders disappeared late Tuesday, when voters fired Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, forced Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln into a run-off in Arkansas and chose tea party darling Rand Paul to be the GOP nominee in Kentucky's Senate race.

"People just aren't very happy," Ira Robbins, 61, said in Allentown, Pa.

With anyone linked to power, it seems...

PITTSBURGH – The first time Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) slipped up here Tuesday night at the Allegheny County Democratic Committee’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, most in the audience pretended not to notice.

But at the end of his remarks when Specter again thanked the “the Allegheny County Republicans” for their endorsement, many couldn’t help but laugh nervously and shoot did-he-really-just-say-that looks at each other.

As amusing as it seemed to some of the Democrats in attendance, mistakes like that could end up costing him his job next Tuesday. It’s not that Specter is so precariously placed that he can’t weather the occasional gaffe, it’s that every little reminder of the 80-year-old’s Republican past chips away at his porcelain base in his new party...

Since switching parties in 2009, Sen. Arlen Specter seemed to hold all the keys to winning his first Democratic Party nomination: the blessing of President Obama and Pennsylvania's Democratic governor, Ed Rendell, financial support from his new team and a commanding lead in polls.

But one week before next Tuesday's primary, two polls show Rep. Joe Sestak opening a lead on Mr. Specter, who once had the support of more than 50 percent of Democratic voters.

Also, on Monday, Mr. Specter found himself defending his vote last year against Elena Kagan's confirmation to solicitor general as President Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court...

(CNSNews.com) – Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate primary is less than a month away, but Democrats choosing a nominee should not deter a probe into possible crimes related to that primary committed by White House officials, said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The possible crime involves the claim – made by Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) – that a White House official offered him a high-level administration job in exchange for Sestak dropping out of the primary race against Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.). Sestak said such an offer was made to him, and members of Congress and legal experts have said if that's true, it would be a crime.

“I think a felony is something you don’t let go of just because an election has occurred,” Issa told CNSNews.com...

Apparently it was an offer he could refuse.

Rep. Joe Sestak, who is causing heartburn for Democratic leaders by running against Arlen Specter for a Senate nomination in Pennsylvania, says the White House dangled a federal job in front of him in an attempt to entice him to drop out of the state's Democratic primary, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Friday.

But the White House "vociferously" denies Sestak's accusation, which came during a taping on a local Sunday news show. A White House official told Fox News that Sestak is expected to "clarify" the allegation.

Sestak, however, stood by his statement on Friday...