Arlen and Teresa

Kerry's Wife Helped Specter In Past, But Won't This Year Teresa Heinz Kerry won't be backing Sen. Arlen Specter in his re-election bid this year. And that's news ? at least, apparently ? to Specter. ... "If somebody said to her, 'What do you think about Arlen Specter?' I think she'd say, 'He's been a very good senator. I like him. He's important for Pennsylvania,'" Specter said. "She might say, 'I'm going to vote for him.'"

I'm a bit surprised that Specter could not immediately see how much Heinz Kerry has to distance herself from him this year. I wonder whether Specter might have been playing up the possibility deliberately in order to spark a story like this that would get him some credibility with moderates. Then again, considering how successful Pat Toomey has been in making Specter sound too liberal, in part by linking his voting record to Kerry's, it seems that Specter ought to want to distance himself from Heinz Kerry as well.

It's kind of sad, though, that that's the way it works. Why should Teresa's political affiliations reflect one way or the other on John?