Contrary to something I suggested in a column last week, I am now told that Gov. Ed Rendell has no interest in taking over Arlen Specter's senate seat when he is done with it.

I am told that Rendell was interested in leaving the governorship for a position in the Obama Administration, specifically to head the Department of Energy, but given the line of succession to the governorship, he couldn't do it.

When his term as governor is up, Rendell would much rather be Commissioner of Major League Baseball than one of a hundred talking heads in the U.S. Senate.

Also, I am told the GOP tried to recruit Tom Ridge to run against Specter but he declined on the grounds of pauperdom. Since leaving his job as the first head of the Department of Homeland Security, he is making around $50,000 a speech on the lecture circuit. Nice work if you can get it. And it comes without the hassles of raising campaign bucks.

Come to think of it, Rendell could go the Ridge road. He would be a sought after speaker or rainmaker for some big law firm.

But this still leaves Joe Sestak stuck in the slow lane packed in behind Specter's limo. He can honk and yell all he wants, he's not going anywhere fast. Rendell, a long-time political friend of Specter's, has Sestak boxed in and he's not about to let him pull out and pass the man who finally accepted his invitation join his party.