Tuesday afternoon, Pat Toomey received the kind of news political candidates only dream of.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, his longtime nemesis and main foe in a 2010 Republican Senate primary, had just become a Democrat, catapulting Toomey into de facto front-runner in a race with national implications.

Suddenly, Toomey was everywhere: TV, radio, the cover of national newspapers, the blogosphere. Most candidates cast as giant-killer would have bragged and thumped their chests.

Not Toomey, who at 47 is embarking on a fifth career.

''I have a remarkable level of support across Pennsylvania and a huge influx of financial support,'' he said matter-of-factly by phone while driving to Philadelphia for television interviews. ''I am confident I will win the Republican nomination.''

From Eleanor Clift:

...Funny, yes, and seriously Machiavellian, claims one GOP source, who attributes Specter's surprise defection to a Biden-Rendell bank shot. Vice President Joe Biden is from Scranton, Pa., and Ed Rendell is governor of Pennsylvania, ties that put them solidly in Specter's orbit. Biden spent the last three decades in the Senate and knows Specter well. They served together on the Judiciary committee back in the day when they along with many others made fools of themselves grilling Anita Hill. The self-interest of the Obama-Biden administration in getting that 60th vote in the Senate is self-evident. It changes the calculus for everything going forward (health care reform, judicial nominations) if Democrats have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Then there's Rendell, whose personal ties to Specter are extensive, but who also has a political stake in seeing him hold his seat in Pennsylvania. Rendell once worked for Specter and regards him as something of a mentor; they're friends. For Rendell, a gregarious, ambitious politician, a Senate seat would cap his career as a former mayor and popular two-term governor. Those who know Rendell say he really wants the seat that Specter holds but would not run against his friend.

Wow, a real surprise given Specter's statements that he intended to run in and win the GOP PA state senate primary. I guess Sen Specter finally realized he needed to jump off the bus before it headed over the cliff.

Specter to switch parties.

Sen Specter's statement

With an already robust war chest at his disposal, U.S. Rep. Joseph Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont, brought in another $567,319 in the first quarter of 2009, putting his cash-on-hand by mid-April up to more than $3.3 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

The April 15 filing caused all manner of chatter on political blogs over the weekend that the former three-star vice admiral is gearing up for a U.S. Senate run in 2010.

If that's the case, Sestak isn't giving anything away.

"I am the 7th District representative, and that is the focus of my attention," he said in a statement Monday. "Beyond that, I have made no decision about my future."

That's a little less firm than previous statements outright denying any higher aspirations, but still not exactly an announcement of candidacy.

If he does run and successfully navigates the Democratic primary, Sestak would either be looking to take on five-term incumbent Arlen Specter, R-Pa., or whoever can knock Specter out in the Republican primary.

At this point, Specter's most serious challenger is conservative former congressman Pat Toomey, who gave Specter a run for his money in the 2004 primary -- and very nearly won.

The only Democrat to have formally announced a Senate candidacy is Joe Torsella, who also raised just about $600,000 in the first three months of the year. Democratic state Reps. Josh Shapiro, Allyson Schwartz and U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy are also reportedly considering a run, but haven't made any announcements.

Pennsylvania's state government may not be open and accountable enough as it handles federal stimulus money, the state's fiscal watchdog warned in a letter to federal officials that The Associated Press obtained Monday.

Auditor General Jack Wagner's letter to a U.S. Government Accountability Office administrator warned that internal controls are so weak that information about how stimulus funds are spent will be unreliable without oversight from an independent audit agency.

"We are extremely concerned about the potential for a lack of statewide government transparency and accountability in the use of these vitally important funds," Wagner wrote to Phillip R. Herr, the federal agency's director of physical infrastructure issues.

Wagner listed Medicaid, low-income heating aid and weatherization assistance as examples of federally funded programs administered by the state that have "significant internal control weaknesses." He said a significant issue was the limited scope of information provided for the audits his own office has performed.

The announcement nobody's been holding their breath for:

Conservative former congressman Pat Toomey made it official yesterday, signing on for a rematch with moderate Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter in the 2010 Republican Senate primary.

Starting with a talk-radio interview in Allentown and a video on his new campaign Web site, Toomey said he was running to stop the "bailouts and the spending stampede" and because Specter had consistently supported "increased government spending and a liberal agenda on social, labor, immigration and national security policies."

Also, see the transcript of Josh Drobnyk's interview with Toomey.

From the Washington Post:

Sen. Arlen Specter's support for President Obama's stimulus package has recharged a political rivalry, setting up what could be a divisive rematch between one of the GOP's leading moderates and a powerful conservative activist.

Pat Toomey, head of the anti-tax Club for Growth, stepped down from the post Monday, the first move in what his aides say is an almost-certain run against Specter in next year's Republican Senate primary. In the 2004 primary, Specter defeated Toomey by 17,000 votes out of more than 1 million cast.

Even though the race is a year away, Specter has taken the rare step of running attack ads against Toomey, attempting to link his work as a trader on Wall Street in the 1980s and 1990s with the current economic crisis.

Both men say the stimulus will be a chief issue. Specter, one of three Republicans who voted for the stimulus, is campaigning throughout the state to hold his job and appeared Monday at a police station in Darby just outside Philadelphia. Officers there praised him for backing the $787 billion stimulus bill, which will provide the department $220,000 in funding to buy equipment.

More than a year before the first primary ballot will be cast, Sen. Arlen Specter is running television ads depicting a likely Republican opponent, Pat Toomey, as a Wall Street insider bent on consigning Social Security to the whims of the stock market.

Christopher Nicholas, Mr. Specter's campaign manager, said the sharply negative ad is airing on cable television across the state, with a total buy of roughly $100,000.

Mr. Toomey, a former congressman, protested that the ad is factually inaccurate, adding, "This is a desperate and silly attempt by Sen. Specter to change the subject away from his support for Wall Street bailouts and massive new spending and debt in Washington."

The early assault on Mr. Toomey comes after a tumultuous legislative span for the veteran Republican. Mr. Specter stirred long-festering conservative resentment when he was one of only three Republicans who voted for the Obama administration's stimulus package earlier this year. Then, in March, he announced his opposition to a high-profile proposal designed to make it easier for labor unions to organize new workplaces.