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Live-blogging Specter’s speech to the Democratic State Committee

12:16—People are filing in… Specter is expected to speak shortly.

12:17—Specter’s not now on-stage with his chief of staff.

12:23—T.J. Rooney is trying to quite everyone down. From an outsider’s perspective, this would often seem the hardest part of his job.

12:26—They’re doing the invocation… not sure why these are always needed at political events… but hey, it works.

12:27—Pledge of Allegiance

12:28—National Anthem

12:30—Opening remarks by Rooney. Talking about anniversary of D-Day.

12:33—There’s a quorum present! Amazing.

12:37—Rooney: “We have such very important elections on the horizon.”

12:38—Introduced judicial candidates to applause.

12:40—Introduces state Representative Mike Gerber (D-Montgomery) as a true “rising star.”

12:42—Gerber, who chairs the state House Democratic Campaign Committee, is talking about efforts to expand the legislative majority in Harrisburg.

12:43—Gerber says over $13 million raised by the HDCC the last couple cycles.

12:45—Gerber says “we need your help finding candidates, particularly in Republican seats.”

12:47—State Representative Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia) wins a restaurant gift certificate—JUST WHAT HE ALWAYS WANTED!—for guessing when the last time was that Pennsylvania had a Democratic Governor and two Democratic Senators… The answer? 1845 and 1846. UPDATE: Friend-of-the-site Tim McNulty points out that this is wrong.

12:48—AFL-CIO head Bill George gets the most raucus welcome yet. He’s something like a rock star here it seems.

12:50—George: “Arlen and I have had some fistfights.”

12:55—Bill George sure seems more enthusiastic about supporting Specter than he did last night.

12:57—George says to Specter, “We ask you seriously, seriously to consider the Employee Free Choice Act with a no-fault arbitration system…”

12:58—Introduces Specter to standing ovation.

12:59—Specter’s on… starts by recounting his past support for labor, including, of course, “my critical vote on the stimulus package.”

12:59—”I do know this state like the back of my hand when it comes to providing jobs.”

1:00—Says he’s committed to unions getting “prompt elections and prompt certification,” as well as fair arbitration. “I am confident that we will find a way to satisfy what Bill George is asking.”

1:02—Refers to President Obama’s “extraordinary speech in Cairo. When he was finished with it I asked him if I could borrow his teleprompters.” He gets a laugh on that one.

1:04—”Maybe it’s no coincidence that I feel so comfortable with Democrats, because I’ve spent most of my life with Democrats. Maybe it’s no coincidence that I’ve been derided for years by the far-right as a Republican in name only. Well, I’m no longer a Republican. I’m again a Democrat, and I’m pleased and proud to be a Democrat.”

1:05—Talking about his Democratic roots, his family’s immigrant background, his ingrained admiration for FDR and JFK… this is also becoming a common theme in Specter’s speeches.

1:06—Says he had hoped to sometimes be a “liberal voice, yes a liberal voice,” in the GOP.

1:07—On stimulus vote: “I would not stand by and join the Republican obstructionist party and its straight-line vote when this country was faced with the prospect of a1 1929 depression that hit my family so hard.”

1:08—Saying “yes” to workers’ rights, “yes” to reproductive freedom, “yes” to civil liberties, “even in times of war.” This is getting people off their feet.

1:10—”The far-right used me for target practice, and they didn’t like it when I wouldn’t stand still.”

1:11—Calls himself an “FDR and JFK Democrat.”

1:12—”It is really my independence that has made me strong. … It is that independence that may result in us disagreeing sometimes.”

1:13—”I promise you that I will make you proud and keep you proud of me as one of your United States Senators. …I will work hard to replace our great Gov. Ed Rendell with a new Democratic governor. … I promise that if I’m fortunate enough to earn your support, I’ll carry the Democratic banner.”

1:14—He’s bashing Pat Toomey now though not by name. “We don’t need a Senator who’s a tool of the far-right. We don’t need a Senator who’s far out of the main stream, a Senator who makes Rick Santorum look like a liberal.”

1:16—Finishes up. Rooney’s back at the podium thanking him for his words.

1:18—Meeting adjourned. I’ll do a wrap-up story now. Then it’s back to Philly. Log-on tomorrow for video from the whole weekend.

UPDATE: Below is the prepared text of Specter’s speech, as provided by his campaign. The campaign said the speech was interrupted 20 times for applause, with 5 standing ovations.

Thank you for that very warm introduction. Your warmth and enthusiasm make me feel very welcome. I have so many friends in this room.

Maybe it’s no coincidence that I feel so comfortable with Democrats because I’ve spent much of my life as a Democrat. Maybe it’s no coincidence that for many years I was derided by the far right as a Republican in name only.

Well I’m no longer a Republican in name only. I’m again a Democrat. And I’m pleased and proud to be a Democrat.

My memories are bright from my boyhood days when the politics and policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt were a beacon of light in the Specter home.  Both of my parents, Lillie and Harry Specter, were immigrants – so-called “little guys” who looked to President Roosevelt to move the country forward from the Depression which hit the Specter family so hard.

Years later in 1960, I was there when Senator John F. Kennedy came to the Democratic City Committee dinner in Philadelphia and my wife Joan, 8 months pregnant with our second son, Stephen, stood on a chair and screamed for the Senator from Massachusetts.

I knew John’s brother Bobby personally and some of my convictions in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office followed up on Attorney General Kennedy’s work.

And I left my wife and two young sons for many months to work as a young staff lawyer on the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President Kennedy.

My first work in politics was as a young Democratic Committeeman in Center City Philadelphia.  I found the job fascinating.  I worked hard to elect Democrats and I was successful.

And, it may surprise you, this will not be my first race as a Democrat.  I ran for District Attorney of Philadelphia as a registered Democrat on the Republican ticket.

After that election I became a Republican because I felt that was the right thing to do since I had been elected on the Republican ticket.  And, I kept my registration that way with the hope that I could be a moderate voice, and at times a liberal voice, on the other side of the aisle.

But now those efforts are over.  Those efforts ended when I cast a critical vote for President Obama’s stimulus package.

I would not stand by and join the obstructionist Republican straight party-line vote when the country faced the imminent prospect of a 1929 depression, the one that hit my family so hard.

It’s been noted that as your senator over the past 29 years, I’ve often been more popular among Democrats than among Republicans.

And if I’ve been popular with Democrats, it’s because I’ve stood for what you’ve stood for.

Yes to increasing the minimum wage, because every working man and woman deserves a living wage.

Yes to the right of a worker to organize a union.

Yes to the right of every citizen to be healthy, to get healthy and to stay healthy.

No to those who would eradicate stem cell research.

Yes to liberating science to cure cancer and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and other maladies.

Yes to reproductive freedom.

Yes to civil liberties even in time of war, because the defense of the Constitution is a battle to be fought and won in every war.

No to judges who are stuck in the 18th century like Robert Bork whom I helped defeat and caught hell from the far right along the way.

Yes to educational opportunity for every American of every talent or skill.

Yes to a clean environment and to the green jobs we need to create.

And last but not least, yes to a stimulus for our economy when we are facing the greatest threat to our economic security in three generations.

Yesterday I was pleased to come to Braddock to announce an award of 115 million dollars from the stimulus package.  The locks and dams and Pittsburgh’s inland waterway system support 218,000 jobs directly and indirectly. The additional 115 million dollars will add 3,000 new jobs for this community.

So what was the reaction of the far right to my vote for the stimulus package? The far right used me for target practice. And they didn’t like it when I wouldn’t stand still.

So I’m especially glad to be here with you, where I feel so welcome.  So welcome and so comfortable because we share core beliefs.  Beliefs I have advanced and defended for decades even when my party was against me, even when it might cost me an election, even when my wonderful wife Joan might disagree with me – now those were the really tough times to stand my ground.

But it is my independence that has made me strong, made me better able to represent Pennsylvania, deliver for Pennsylvania and strong enough to come back to the party, where I started as an FDR, Kennedy Democrat.

And it is that independence that may result in our disagreeing sometimes.

I have voted 10,000 or more times and I don’t expect everyone to agree with all my votes. And even I don’t  agree with some of those votes.

But I promise you this.
I promise that I will make you proud and keep you proud of me as your US Senator.

I promise I’ll come to your meetings.

I’ll be available to help with constituent problems.  My office is noted for its constituent service and my branch offices in Pittsburgh, Erie, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Allentown and Philadelphia will be available to help you and our constituents.

I will work hard to replace our great Governor Ed Rendell with a new Democratic governor and for our entire ticket.  Many have asked me to help with your candidates this year and my answer has been and will remain: Yes.

I promise that if I’m fortunate enough to earn your support and be your nominee for Senate next year that I’ll carry the Democratic banner high.

Because we don’t need a Senator from Pennsylvania with a 97 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union.

We don’t need a Senator who’s a tool of the far right.

We don’t need a Senator who says it’s his intention to sit in the back row and vote no on everything as he did for six years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

We don’t need a Senator who is far outside the mainstream… a Senator who makes Rick Santorum look like a liberal… or a Senator who would take this state back to the political dark ages.

We need a Senator who will say yes and vote yes when yes is the answer this state and this country need.

We need a Senator who can work with President Obama and who can help President Obama.

And we need a Senator who can work with Republicans and Democrats alike.

Because when the history of this century is told it must be a story your children and grandchildren are proud to tell.

Together, we can make that history! Thank you very much.

June 6, 2009 at 12:16 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

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