TOP OF THE TICKET

When he announced the other day that he was switching to the Democratic Party, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter offered to return campaign donations from any contributors who might take offense.

Turns out that includes a lot of his Senate Republican colleagues who lent money to the cause.

Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson was first in line -- asking Specter to return his $5,000 leadership political action committee contribution. Other Republicans requesting refunds on behalf of their PACs: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky ($10,000), Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander ($5,000), Texas Sen. John Cornyn ($5,000) and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker ($5,000).

“They gave that money to elect a Republican. They did not give that money to strengthen [Democratic Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid’s majority,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brian Walsh told the Washington Times. “I expect a lot of people will be looking to have their money returned.”

No question Republicans are peeved. One Republican official in Hamilton County, Ohio, Alex Triantafilou, was criticized for crossing the line into bad taste when he posted an image of Specter, then bald from his chemotherapy treatments for a brain tumor, next to one of the hairless Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” movies. He’s since replaced it with a photo of a frowning child.

Now, Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Robert A. Gleason Jr. is demanding that Specter return all campaign contributions, no questions asked. On CNN, Gleason said Specter should “do the right thing and proactively return any and all campaign contributions he has received in recent months to run as a Republican in the upcoming election.”

Oh, and Gleason thinks Specter should apologize to the state’s Republicans for misleading them.

Even if he returned every penny now in his campaign coffers, this is one of those “don’t cry for me, Argentina” moments for Specter.

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have promised to campaign for him. Democrats have promised to back him. And, if history is any guide, Democratic donors will soon be filling his campaign funds with cold, green cash.

Brian Walsh told the Washington Times

On TV: Obama vs. ‘Lie to Me’

Well, it looks like Fox made the correct business call in opting not to broadcast President Obama’s latest prime-time news conference Wednesday night.

After 100 days and three prime-time news sessions, has the entertainment value drained out of the new guy talking for 55 minutes with no laugh track or applause?

Overnight ratings show that Fox’s drama “Lie to Me” easily beat NBC’s coverage of the news conference, drawing nearly 8 million viewers to the Peacock’s 6.7 million in second place.

On ABC, NBC and CBS, a little less than 19 million viewed the news conference.

Overall, about 28.8 million people watched it on 10 TV channels, a sharp 29% drop from the last White House media session March 24. (Nearly 50 million watched Obama’s first news conference.) And Fox News’ Obama coverage won the ratings combat on the cable side.

“Lie to Me” is the story of a doctor (Tim Roth) who’s, in effect, a living lie detector through his ability to read human expressions and nuances. We could maybe use him at some political events!

Hunt is on for wolves in Rockies

On Monday, hunters in Montana and Idaho and elsewhere in the Rockies will be free to shoot at the gray wolf.

As our friends at the Swamp blog have reported, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced last month that the Obama administration decided to remove the animal from the endangered species list because its population had replenished.

Salazar said that finding by the Fish and Wildlife Service under President George W. Bush was “a supportable one. . . . Scientists have concluded that recovery has occurred.”

Environmentalists are not pleased and are planning to go back into court.

“Wolves will once again be in the cross-hairs to be needlessly killed starting May 4,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife.

But Salazar, a former Colorado senator, praised efforts by Idaho and Montana to restore and manage wolf populations, though he kept the wolf on the endangered species in Wyoming, where he said the recovery plan is insufficient.

The battle over the wolves is the latest chapter in the war over wildlife between the federal government and environmental groups. With wolves nearing extinction, the Clinton administration reintroduced them in Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s.

A decade later, with wolf populations growing, the Bush administration tried to remove the animal from the endangered list, prompting court fights that have blocked hunting until now.

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andrew.malcolm@latimes.com

Neuman writes for The Times.

Read Top of the Ticket, The Times’ blog on national politics, at latimes.com/ticket.