Report: DSCC, White House urging Sestak to forgo Senate run

Here’s an interesting, though perhaps not surprising, twist in the Pennsylvania Senate race.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported this weekend that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the White House is seeking to put the kibosh on any Senate aspirations Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) might have.

Word out of Washington, D.C., is that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the political wiseguys from the Obama administration plan on “visiting with” Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. Joe Sestak.

Their objective is clear: Get him off the stage and out of a primary race against incumbent (and now Democrat) Sen. Arlen Specter.

“I have received a call” from DSCC chairman Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Sestak said, “but we keep missing each other.”

So the battle lines are drawn: Sestak is not inclined to be pushed out of the race, and Menendez’s marching orders from the White House are to shove, not just push.

This would make sense on a few levels. First, there was Democrat Joe Torsella’s hasty exit from the race.

Then there was this revealing piece in City Hall on the White House forcing Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) out of a challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) next year. That showed that the White House is willing to get involved in Democratic Senate primaries early.

And, of course, there is the administration’s promise to go to bat for Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) now that he’s a Democrat. Just last week, Vice President Joe Biden used President Obama’s campaign email list to email supporters on Specter’s behalf.

jeremy.jacobs@digital-stage.thehill.com