Sestak Defeats Specter in Bid for Senate Seat

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter has been defeated in a Pennsylvania primary in his bid for a sixth term after taking the risky step of switching to the Democratic Party.

Voters Tuesday picked U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak as the party's nominee and rejected the 80-year-old Specter in his first Democratic campaign since his GOP defection.

Sestak took the podium at a suburban Philadelphia military academy and called the vote a win for the people over the establishment, the status quo and even Washington, D.C.

The vote also was a defeat for President Barack Obama, who supported Specter when he abandoned the Republican Party last year.

The moderate Specter cast his switch as a decision of principle after inflaming the GOP by voting for Obama's economic stimulus bill. But many Democratic voters questioned his motives.