The money game: 1Q Senate roundup

Not surprisingly, Senator Arlen Specter takes the cake for best first-quarter fundraising haul among Senate candidates.

pa href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/04/torsella-has-almost-600k-on-hand" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F04%2Ftorsella-has-almost-600k-on-hand','Democrat+Joe+Torsella+raised+about+%24596%2C000%2C+finishing+with+about+%24584%2C000.')" target="_blank"Democrat Joe Torsella raised about $596,000, finishing with about $584,000./a/p
pa href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/04/luksik-campaign-in-the-red" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F04%2Fluksik-campaign-in-the-red','Republican+Peg+Luksik+raised+about+%2410%2C000%2C+finishing+with+about+%243%2C000+on+hand+but+%243%2C500+in+debt.')" target="_blank">Republican Peg Luksik raised about $10,000, finishing with about $3,000 on hand but $3,500 in debt.

Republican Pat Toomey, having just entered the race, has not yet released any fundraisng data.

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Specter flush with $6.7M in campaign cash

Facing a grueling reelection battle, Senator Arlen Specter raised more than $1.2 million during the first three months of the year, finishing the quarter with a whopping $6.7 million in cash on hand, according to new

Torsella has almost $600K on hand

Democratic Senate candidate Joe Torsella finished March with almost $600,000 in campaign cash, according to new pTorsella’s campaign had previously disclosed a broad outline of his early fundraising efforts, but the full report published online yesterday offered far more detail. Torsella raised more than $596,000 during the period, almost all of which came from individual contributors, not political action committees. One of those donors was Gov. Ed Rendell, who a href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/04/rendell-gave-torsella-500/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F04%2Frendell-gave-torsella-500%2F','gave+Torsella%22s+campaign+%24500')" target="_blank"gave Torsella’s campaign $500/a. He finished the period with almost $584,000 on hand./p
pHe spent about $12,000 during the period, on expenses varying from basic office overhead to payroll and travel costs./p
pa href="http://www.pa2010.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/torsella_april_quarterly.pdf" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F04%2Ftorsella_april_quarterly.pdf','Click+here+to+download+his+full+FEC+report.')" target="_blank">Click here to download his full FEC report.

Luksik campaign in the red

Republican Senate candidate Peg Luksik ended March with almost $3,000 in campaign cash—but $3,500 in debt, according to newly released

Sorry, wrong number

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Report: Lamb another possible Senate candidate

Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb is

Gang violence a potent issue

Although the issue of gun control is often off-limits for many politicians, the problems associated with gangs are not. Gang related crime and what politicians have done to prevent it is expected to be a hot topic in political campaigns of 2010. Issues relating to gangs will likely be particularly important in the upcoming election, as a deep recession and increasing poverty make Pennsylvania even more vulnerable to violence and gang activity.

Pat Toomey on (not) being a Senator

I previously discussed Pat Toomey’s lack of aspiration for the Senate job that he expressed to Rob Gleason, but to add to that, how about this Toomey’s admission to Rob Gleason that he’d be a “disinterested, lackluster U.S. Senator”??

LACKLUSTER, so not surprisingly the Specter Camp responded. This whole interview with Chairman Gleason is not helping Toomey at all. And this doesn’t help the GOP re-brand itself from being the so called party of no……

Specter introduces bill to curb executive powers

Earlier this week, I posted regarding Specter’s intention to put forth new legislation curbing Presidential power, including limits on Presidential Signing Statements and Electronic Surveillance. Today,

Rendell gave Torsella $500

Gov. Ed Rendell contributed $500 to the Senate campaign of Democrat Joe Torsella last month, according to campaign finance data released Thursday.

For weeks, party insiders had been saying that Torsella, the former National Constitution Center CEO and Rendell ally, would not be seeking the nomination unless he felt he was doing so with Rendell’s support. Asked in a recent interview with pa2010.com whether or not he had the Governor’s backing, Torsella declined to answer,…