Shira Toeplitz reports for Roll Call (subscription required):

Add another name to the list of people who are considering a run against Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in 2010.

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), according to one of his closest advisers, is looking at a statewide bid. Murphy was just elected to a second term representing the northern Philadelphia suburbs.

"Patrick is taking the race and considering the race very strongly," Daren Berringer, a top adviser to Murphy, said Thursday. "He's certainly weighing a lot of his options for the future, and the U.S. Senate race is very attractive, and he's looking at it very strongly right now."

Patrick Murphy does have a good track record of winning in the suburban areas of Philadelphia key to winning statewide in Pennsylvania, and with more than $1.5 million in the bank as of the middle of October, Murphy would have a good basis from which to launch a Senate run if he wanted to jump in. Murphy, of course, isn't the only Democrat looking at the race. As noted earlier today, Chris Matthews has been making quite a bit of noise of late, and Toeplitz reports that Rep. Allyson Schwartz and State House Deputy Speaker Josh Shapiro may also have an eye on the contest. And as I noted before, Specter may be more vulnerable than many think.