Senator Arlen Specter's (D-Pennsylvania) political career may be over even before the November mid-term elections. The death blow to his almost 30 years in the US Senate could come from a Democratic primary challenger because Senator Specter foolishly decided to make the race for the party's nomination about honor and he may just come up short.

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The five-term incumbent had a double digit lead over US Representative Joe Sestak (D-Pennsylvania) in polls taken just weeks ago, but the latest Muhlenberg College/Morning Call poll of likely Democratic voters shows Mr. Sestak gaining rapidly and currently trailing by just 6 points. (source)

One reason for the shifting numbers is the Specter campaign's decision to attack the 31 year military record of former three-star Admiral Sestak. A recently produced ad repeated the claim from an anonymous source that Admiral Sestak was "relieved of duty in the Navy for creating a poor command climate." (view the ad)

In fact, while serving as a top aide to Admiral Vernon E. Clark, the chief of naval operations, Admiral Sestak was assigned to assess the Navy's fleet and he proposed steep cutbacks. When Admiral Clark retired in 2005, his successor, Admiral Mike Mullen, relieved Mr. Sestak of that duty. (source) Apparently downsizing the Navy by cutting unnecessary government spending didn't sit well with Admiral Sestak's new boss but it certainly will with many Pennsylvania voters.

The response to the Specter ad from the Sestak campaign was swift and evidently quite effective:

Another contributing factor in Senator Specter's declining poll numbers was his performance in Sunday's televised debate between the candidates. Again, the senator tried to make honor the central issue, demanding an apology from his opponent just seconds into the debate for the accusation he lied about Mr. Sestak's military record. He did not get his apology bur he did get attacked for reverting to what Mr. Sestak called "his Republican tactics." (source)

It might not have been the smartest move on Mr. Sestak's part to claim Senator Specter is acting like a Republican during an election cycle when Republicans are doing so well. But regardless of which of them makes the more damaging mistakes, all Specter and Sestak are really fighting for is which one of them gets to lose to Republican Pat Toomey in November. In recent polling, Mr. Toomey leads Senator Specter 46% to 41% and Representative Sestak 42% ro 34%. (source)