Obama greeted by Specter in Pennsylvania, but Sestak is absent

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When President Obama arrived in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Sen. Arlen Specter deplaned to greet the local dignitaries.

There’s nothing unusual in the president bringing a local senator to a speech. What was unusual, however, was who was missing: Rep. Joe Sestak, who defeated White House favorite Specter and won the Democratic nomination for Senate.

The White House minimized Sestak’s glaring absence.

“There was a little confusion,” spokesman Bill Burton told reporters on Air Force One. Sestak “was invited to a political meeting before the speech with some other community leaders from around the state and was certainly welcome to stay for the speech if he was so inclined.”

Sestak was not on the plane and not at the speech because “he apparently had a previous engagement,” Burton said.

The White House strongly – and unsuccessfully – backed Specter, who was forced to leave the GOP because he could not win that party’s primary. He was embraced by Democrats because he was the 61st Senate vote, giving them a supermajority at the time.

Just how far the White House went in helping Specter is very much in the political maelstrom. The GOP wants an impartial investigation into the Obama administration’s effort to enlist former President Clinton to discuss a possible unpaid post for Sestak if he stayed in the House.

Having Sestak and Specter at the same place at the same time would have give the GOP a talking point as well as creating an awkward moment.

--Christi Parsons, reporting from Pennsylvania and Michael Muskal, reporting from Los Angeles