Yeakel endorses Sestak over Specter

Lynn Yeakel, the feminist hero who as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1992 nearly defeated incumbent Arlen Specter, yesterday endorsed a candidate to finish the job.

Yeakel backed U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak in his bid to deny the Democratic nomination to Specter, who was a Republican when she tangled with him in a bitter campaign nearly 18 years ago.

"Joe can be counted on to stand up for what he believes," Yeakel said during a reception at the Acorn Club in Center City. "He does not blow in the political winds, as some do."

The event, attended by about 150 people, was the kickoff of Women for Sestak, which will be headed by Yeakel and Leslie Anne Miller, formerly chief counsel in Gov. Rendell's administration.

A political novice, Yeakel was inspired to run by Specter's scathing interrogation of Anita Hill, who had accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, during Thomas' 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings. The Senate had no women members then, and Yeakel's campaign became a cause célèbre.

In April, however, Yeakel was quoted in the New York Observer as saying she was "delighted" Specter had become a Democrat and praised his "moderate" record, though she did not endorse him.

Several Democratic women leaders spoke in support of Specter yesterday.

"Sen. Specter has been my friend for many years," former State Sen. Connie Williams of Montgomery County said in a statement. "I was angry with him over the Thomas-Hill hearings, but I forgave him because of all he has done for women on every other front." She mentioned Specter's support of the Violence Against Women Act, abortion rights, equal pay, and increased funding for medical research.

President Obama, Rendell, and most Democratic power brokers back Specter's bid for the nomination of his new party.

Yeakel, a founder of the Women's Way charitable fund-raising network, runs the Institute for Women's Health and Leadership at Drexel University's College of Medicine. She stressed that her endorsement of Sestak was personal, and said her support was not motivated by her loss in 1992.

"I am not striking at anybody," she said in a brief interview. "I am supporting somebody that I really believe in. . . . I want to stay on the high ground."