The political high wire act of Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) finally came to an end on Tuesday, as he lost the Democratic Senate nomination to Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) by a 54-46% vote.  It was not Specter's finest hour.

Going through the results from Pennsylvania's 67 counties, it wasn't hard to tell what the message was.

Democratic voters didn't want the party-switching Specter on the ballot in November.

Of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, Specter was ahead in only two of them by the time the clock struck midnight, giving him no chance to make a bid for a sixth term in the U.S. Senate.

As expected, Specter won on his home turf, easily besting Sestak in Philadelphia County by a 64-36 margin.

But the turnout was not enough for Specter, who needed a much larger margin of victory there to offset his troubles in the rest of the Keystone State.

The only other counties that went for Specter were Dauphin, home to the state capital of Harrisburg and Lackawanna, anchored by Scranton.

At least Gov. Ed Rendell delivered that 219 vote victory for Specter in Dauphin County.  The Governor's vaunted machine didn't do much else that helped.

Sestak won in Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh.  He won in Erie, he won in Allentown and Lehigh County.  Sestak ran up strong majorities in Reading (Berks County) and Bethlehem (Northampton County).

Maybe the best example of Specter's defeat was in Centre County, home to Penn State University, which went 56-44 for Sestak.

It was a loss not only for Specter and the Democratic Establishment in Pennsylvania, but also for President Obama, who had endorsed Specter when he switched parties last year.

The White House tried hard to keep Sestak out of this race, dumping on his decision to run against Specter.

Sestak will now face former Rep. Pat Toomey (R) in November.  That's going to be a very tough race for both sides.