If Sen. Arlen Specter is trying to come across as confident and measured about his party switch, he ought to choose his words more carefully.

“I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election,” he said in a statement.

Evidently, Old Man Specter is nervous about the Democratic candidates he’ll face: The word anxious implies worry or anxiety. (It can also imply desire, but it always suggests nervousness.) Eager, on the other hand, implies desire. If someone is eager to take on the competition, she is looking forward to it, saying, “Bring it on!”

Then again, if you were 79 and on the verge of death, the prospect of mounting another campaign would be a specter.