LENTZ RAISES OVER $250,000

By LENTZ FOR CONGRESS

SWARTHMORE, PA – Representative Bryan R. Lentz has raised over a quarter of a million dollars prior to officially announcing his campaign for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th District.  PA2010.com reported this afternoon that likely Republican congressional nominee Pat Meehan had only raised $200,000.  If that report is accurate, Lentz raised significantly more than Meehan, even though Meehan has been campaigning for office for more than a year and had already conducted…

Callahan camp says it raised $345K

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan appears to have stormed out of the gate in his bid to unseat Congressman Charlie Dent (R-15), with his campaign saying Wednesday that it had racked up about $345,000 since he entered the race in July.

Callahan is widely considered the strongest Democrat to take on Dent so far, and his early fundraising totals would seem to solidify that perception. The campaign said it had about $325,000 on hand at the…

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Costello downplays fundraising, calls on opponents to match endorsement pledge

Chester County Recorder of Deeds Ryan Costello sought to play down the importance of early fundraising numbers this week, saying he is focused on helping local GOP candidates in next month’s election “as requested by Republican Party leaders.”

Costello, who is running for Congress in the 6th District, did say he had raised $30,000 as of the third quarter filing deadline, and that he did so without holding fundraisers or soliciting contributions from local Republican…

LOOKING AHEAD: Another Senate poll later today

Rasmussen is putting out another poll on the Senate race late this afternoon.

Log-on to pa2010.com for complete coverage.

The rising threat of political violence in America

While we normally focus exclusively on the Senate race here, I want to take a moment to weight in on what I think is a most disturbing trend in our politics of late—the rising threat of political violence.

This topic was once again brought to my attention last weekend, when I discovered that Rich Lowry, a Republican running against my hometown Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida’s 20th district, recently attended a Broward County Republican…

Behind the poll numbers, budget woes, wrong-track concerns and Obama’s slide

The Susquehanna poll released Wednesday morning, which found pWhile voters’ priorities and concerns will no doubt change in the six months before next year’s primary and the 13 months before the general election, the results provide much to parse—and much for incumbents of all stripes to fear./p
pSixty-eight percent of voters now think Pennsylvania is on the wrong track, compared to only 22 percent who think the state is heading in the right direction. Voters are, not surprisingly, concerned about the state’s recently-ended budget impasse and the economy, Twenty-eight percent rated the budget crisis as the most important problem facing the state, second only to the 25 percent who rates the economy and jobs as the most important issue. No other policy issue comes close./p
pGov. Ed Rendell’s approval rating has slipped to 38 percent, and President Obama’s approval rating in the state has slipped to an even 50 percent./p
pa href="http://www.pa2010.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Poll_Oct09.pdf" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F10%2FPoll_Oct09.pdf','Click+here+to+view+the+full+poll.')" target="_blank">Click here to view the full poll.

Corbett leads Gerlach handily in poll, but half undecided

State Attorney General Tom Corbett continues to easily lead Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-6) in next year’s gubernatorial primary, but a whopping 50 percent of voters remain undecided, according to a new poll.

The Susquehanna Polling and Research survey released Wednesday morning showed Corbett garnering 36 percent of the vote, compared to 13 percent of Gerlach. But with half of Republican voters still undecided, the results will undoubtedly give more ammunition to the Gerlach campaign in…

New poll shows Specter tied with Toomey, but losing ground

Even while he remains neck-and-neck with Republican Pat Toomey, Senator Arlen Specter’s approval ratings are nearing dangerous lows ahead of next year’s election, according to a new poll.

The survey by Susquehanna Polling and Research, released Wednesday morning, showed Specter edging Toomey by a statistically insignificant one-point margin in a general election matchup, 42 percent to 41 percent. Twelve percent were undecided.

But more concerning for Specter, only 31 percent of voters think he deserves…