Obama and Reid will campaign for Specter against Sestak

Well, isn't that cute:

Now that Joe Sestak has said he intends to challenge Arlen Specter in the 2010 Pennsylvania Democratic primary, how will the White House and the Democratic establishment handle this?

Well, according to a spokesperson for Harry Reid, Obama, Joe Biden and Reid all intend to work for Specter against Sestak. I asked Reid spokesperson Jim Manley how Reid intended to proceed, and he emailed:

Like President Obama and Vice President Biden, Senator Reid will work to raise money and campaign for Senator Specter.

White House officials had previously pledged to back Specter for reelection, but that was before the threat of a primary looked real.

This means Sestak, if he runs, would have to battle the full weight of the Dem establishment. One outstanding question is whether the White House and top Dems will work to pressure Sestak to stay out of the race before it even starts, which could make it even tougher for him to mount this challenge.

If that's the case, I guess the people of Pennsylvania -- who deserve to have a real choice for who represents them in the Democratic Party, and not have it decided by the President of the United States, who has developed a habit of pressuring more progressive challengers out of the primaries -- will have to show the national Democratic leaders that they won't be pushed around.

And is it just me, or will Reid and Biden campaigning for Specter probably end up helping Sestak? Two huge political losers -- Sestak must be giddy right now.