Specter cancels on Larry King

In the midst of a couple of very bad days, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) has canceled an appearance tonight on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”

Specter was to be a featured guest on the show, but his office said that he canceled Tuesday because of a “scheduling conflict.”

It makes you wonder if Specter isn’t exactly anxious to talk after “misspeaking” about wanting Republican former Sen. Norm Coleman to win Minnesota’s Senate race and being denied seniority by his new Democratic colleagues.

Democratic sources have suggested Specter’s Coleman comments didn’t help his cause on seniority, and Specter has backtracked, saying he “misspoke.”

The timeline suggests Specter canceled after the Coleman comments went public.

Washington Examiner columnist Byron York wrote about the Coleman comments, which were made to a New York Times Magazine reporter, at 3:08 p.m. Tuesday, according to the timestamp on his blog post.

A release from CNN sent about 20 minutes later, just before 3:30 p.m., still has Specter as King’s “primetime exclusive.”

Specter spokeswoman Kate Kelly described the conflict only as a “personal event.”

-Aaron Blake