Thank God, He is Not Specter.
While I never gave it much thought, the fact that some considered Castle’s statements to Philadelphia Business Weekly equivocal as to whether we would run for the Senate as a Republican gave me enough pause to consider the truly horrifying prospect. Well, Castle cleared it up for us:
From CQ Politics:
Asked about his comments on Wednesday[,] Castle said he has no plans to switch parties and that he might have been a bit “inarticulate” in his Monday speech.
He said he meant to convey that Republican officials are lobbying him to run for the Senate seat formerly held by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and currently held by Democrat Ted Kaufman, who was appointed to succeed Biden but is not running in the 2010 election.
“I am a Republican. I am not Arlen Specter. I don’t intend to change parties.” Castle told reporters, referring to the senior Pennsylvania senator who switched his affiliation from Republican to Democratic in late April.
And now we have to parse this statement. He does use the present tense when saying “I don’t intend to change parties,” as if he was about to follow that up with “…when I run for the Senate next year.” Of course, another way to look at it is that this was no Shermanesque statement, and in saying he doesn’t intend to change parties leaves an out for him to change his mind. But I am sick of the tea leaf reading. Mike, for the love of God, decide already.
He’s got a new deadline now, August 20. Yes, that means 2 more months of speculation. Is it too soon to call Castle a tease?
I think the longer it takes him to announce, the less likely he is to run.
Reading the tea leaves, I think someone has been lobbying Castle to run as a Dem.
I would not put it past Tom Carper. In fact, I can see them sharing a malted milk shake. (One glass, two straws) Carper leans in and says softly, “We should shake things up a bit.”
Suddenly Castle breaks out into a cold sweat. He feels the rollcoaster drop that he has not felt since piano lessons. Trying to sound casual, he manages “Really?”
“Yeah,” says Carper. Still soft and inviting. “You should run for the Senate as a Democrat.”
Castle feels like someone backing away from a 1,000 foot cliff. “Oh,” he says. “uhm…”
“Whatsa matter?” says Carper, so tuned into Castle’s mood after all these years.
“Nothing, It’s okay. Gosh look at the time.”