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LEFTOVERS: Toomey’s book, Onorato on Corbett, endorsements from Pawlenty

Democrats on Wednesday were needling Republican Pat Toomey about sales of his book Road to Prosperity. Pointing out that numerous copies sat on a bookshelf behind him in a fundraising video (embedded below), the state party joked that Toomey’s Senate run is apparently just a ruse to sell books.

“Word on the street is that there are boxes of the thing everywhere!” state party spokesman Patrick McKenna said of the unsold books. “We’ve had several reports that they’ve been using them as coasters, to prop up tables and chairs, you name it. Someone even mentioned that a couple of staffers built a fort with the books on a slow day, with one staffer joking that it was to ‘fend off the socialist onslaught from Washington.’”

Added state party chairman T.J. Rooney in a statement: “After multiple failed attempts to download Toomey’s book onto my awesome new Kindle, I was relieved to find out they’re practically giving the damn thing away on Amazon.com.”

In a lighthearted push back e-mailed to reporters Wednesday afternoon, Toomey campaign manager Mark Harris wrote: “Glad to see the state dems have a sense of humor and all … But maybe they should focus more on finding new ways to change the subject from Senator Specter’s pro-bailout, pro-stimulus, pro-government run healthcare, pro-tax hike voting record. Just saying.”

Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Dan Onorato chimed in on Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett’s participation in the federal lawsuit trying to block health care reform. In the lengthy statement, his most direct criticism of Corbett to date, Onorato said that Corbett “perpetuates Harrisburg culture.”

“Tom Corbett has again demonstrated that he is part of the Harrisburg culture that needs to change,” Onorato said. “He has threatened to cut public safety programs if he does not receive an increase in his department’s funding, yet he will not disclose the cost of the politically motivated frivolous lawsuit he filed to challenge the federal health care bill—an action that is simply not in the best interests of Pennsylvanians. He continues to court the fringe right-wing and disregard the needs of Pennsylvania’s families.

“This political stunt does nothing to either address the rising cost of health care or improve accessibility for those who cannot afford coverage,” Onorato added. “Tom Corbett has not once mentioned how he would address the health care crisis if elected to office. What is most disturbing is that Tom Corbett is using this misguided lawsuit and the suffering of thousands of Pennsylvanians as a political ploy to raise campaign funds. Just in the past week he has sent letters to his supporters urging them to donate to his campaign in order to support his crusade against health care legislation.”

And Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s political action committee made a series of endorsements Wednesday, with a few Republicans from the Keystone State making the cut. Pawlenty’s Freedom First PAC endorsed Toomey in the Senate race, as well as congressional hopefuls Pat Meehan in the 7th District and Tim Burns in the 12th District.

“I’m honored to have Governor Pawlenty’s endorsement because we both agree that our country needs a course correction,” Meehan wrote in an e-mail to supporters. “Our nation needs to pursue a path to job growth, lower taxes, and smaller government. This is why I’m running for Congress and this is why Governor Pawlenty is getting behind our campaign.”

Democrats in Harrisburg and Washington were quick to point out that in 2008, when Toomey was still head of the conservative Club for Growth, he said that Pawlenty’s “record is not as a solidly free-market and limited-government” as some of the other Republicans who were being floated as running mates for John McCain.

March 31, 2010 at 11:30 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Dan Onorato, Democratic Party, PA-12, PA-7, Pat Meehan, Pat Toomey, Tim Burns, Tim Pawlenty, Tom Corbett

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