“When Democrats needed a partner to strike a deal with on a gun background check bill,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) “made a politically savvy move that could pay dividends both in future talks with Democrats and back home in Pennsylvania,” Roll Call reports.
Toomey “was swept into the Senate as part the tea party wave of 2010, tacking to the right on social issues to secure victory. But since arriving in the Senate, the Pennsylvania Republican — who sources say always has been more interested in fiscal issues — has emerged periodically to try to stake out bipartisan ground, first as the front man for targeted revenue increases as part of 2011’s supercommittee and again Wednesday, when he announced an agreement with three colleagues to close the gun show loophole and expand background checks to Internet gun sales.”
The Hill: “Toomey’s decision represented a dramatic step for gun control,
especially because he has an A rating from the NRA and formerly headed
the conservative Club for Growth. It also revived the issue, which had
lost considerable steam over the last month.”
