Arlen Specter Tops Pat Toomey in New Poll

Arlen Specter is no dummy. He knows how to save his own political hide, and a new poll released by Quinnipiac University shows as much:

A new poll of Pennsylvania voters suggests that the newest Democrat in Congress, Sen. Arlen Specter, would easily beat his old rival, Republican Pat Toomey, in Specter's battle for re-election.

Pennsylvania turned even bluer in the last presidential election, so Specter did, too. It's a simple math problem, really. Toomey, a staunch conservative, doesn't really have a chance at winning this thing, and Specter would have had a hard time, too, if he'd remained a Republican. Specter vs. Toomey has the makings of a landslide, if you trust this first poll since "Benedict Arlen's" defection was announced. 53% say they'd vote for Specter, while just 33% prefer Toomey.

Then again, if , heaven forbid, the GOP were to select a "dirty moderate" (to use Meghan McCain's term) candidate, like, say, Tom Ridge, to run against Specter, the hypothetical gap closes to just three points. So will the GOP get the message that their future may--gasp!--lie with the less virulent among them? Time will tell.