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12th DISTRICT NOTES: New Burns ad, Fact-checks, endorsements and more

There’s been a flurry of news nuggets in the 12th Congressional District over the last day.

Republican Tim Burns has a new ad out. In the 30-second spot, embedded below, the wealthy businessman criticizes cap-and-trade energy legislation, saying it will cost 1.7 million American jobs. “You can count on me to fight that,” Burns says. Over at Early Returns 2.0, friend-of-the-site Dan Malloy fact-checks the ad, noting that a claim about how much the legislation would favor ratepayers in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district is “dubious.”

Speaking of fact-checking, FactCheck.org took Burns’ opponent, Democrat Mark Critz, to task for his ad claiming that Burns supports tax breaks to ship jobs overseas. The eminent referee of political rhetoric says that “this claim isn’t backed up.” Check out their analysis here.

Meanwhile, there’s been a ton of endorsements and related political jockeying. Burns is reportedly being endorsed by the conservative group FreedomWorks, which has been a driving force behind the Tea Party movement. Critz has his own endorsement, this one coming from the United Mine Workers of America.

And the fact that both candidates are getting support from their respective party leaders has led to a deluge of e-mails to reporters from party organizations and interest groups. With Vice President Joe Biden set to raise money for Critz, the National Republican Congressional Committee wants to know if President Obama is planning to campaign for the Democrat. The NRCC flagged remarks by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs indicating that it’s a possibility, and asked if Critz is “concerned about Obama’s belief that under his plan of cap-and-trade ‘electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.’”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is into the act, too. After Burns benefited from a fundraiser with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the DCCC is drawing attention to all the Social Security privatization advocates Burns is palling around with. “The Republican scheme to privatize Social Security that Tim Burns and his supporters are calling for would have a devastating impact on seniors in Western Pennsylvania,” DCCC spokesman Shripal Shah said. “Only an out of touch millionaire like Tim Burns would think that it is a good idea to gamble on Wall Street the Social Security benefits seniors have earned.”

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April 22, 2010 at 1:00 pm

--pa2010.com Staff

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  1. gophawk

    Apr 22nd, 2010

    Looks like the DCCC outsourced another job to India. Shirpal Shah? How’s that going to go over in Murtha land?

  2. Starboard

    Apr 22nd, 2010

    Dan Malloy-

    I am sure Dan would agree that the bill has a “disproportionate impact” on places like PA-12 as opposed to CA and the east coast/ new england.

  3. Go Dawgs

    Apr 22nd, 2010

    gophawk – that’s pretty F-ing racist. First of all what if he is an American born Indian American? There are quite a few South Asian families that live in Murtha land, so I think they’ll be ok with a guy named Shripal, especially since a fair amount of the doctors and small business owners are probably Indian.

    Second, didn’t the ’04 Bush campaign outsource campaign calls overseas?

  4. Bill

    Apr 22nd, 2010

    There are 4 asians living in the 12th. I’ve met them all, and none are offended by gophawk’s comments.

  5. Jules

    Apr 22nd, 2010

    To clear up any confusion, Shripal Shah is awesome-as-shit, and he is not a FOB, he was born in America, and is of Indian descent.

  6. Go Dawgs

    Apr 22nd, 2010

    Bill and gophawk are both morons.

    A simple Fact Finder search via congressional district demonstrates that are far more than 4 Asian Americans in the 12th.

    There’s a high correlation of being an idiot and being a racist.

  7. Jamie

    Apr 23rd, 2010

    Burns is campaigning on family values issues. Allegations of Burns extramarital affairs have been swirling about the blogosphire. Shouldn’t there be inquiries made into the veracity of these allegations. Does anyone have any information about these allegations?

    Newt Gingrich a GOP icon who also campaigned on family value issues is in the 12th District for a fundraiser to benefit Burn’s campaign. Gingrich has had his own extramarital scandals in his past.

    Where are the family values of conservatives to follow if we are to use Burns as its example.

  8. Anonymous

    Apr 23rd, 2010

    Jamie, I agree, I agree, I agree.
    It seems like no one cares about this.

  9. Starboard

    Apr 23rd, 2010

    Last minute desperation attempt w the affairs thing. Desperate candidates resort to desperate measures. People are more concerned with entire streets of small businesses being stripped out of towns.

    I think we need to explore some “ethical values” of Mark Critz.

  10. Right Wing Guy

    Apr 24th, 2010

    The only place claiming Burns had an affair is on this silly comment posts. Made by Russell or Critiz sheep. It’s sad and shameful. There are real issues and people waste their time on making up lies about affairs that never happenened.

  11. Does Micro Niche Finder Really Work?

    Apr 24th, 2010

    [...] 12th DISTRICT NOTES: New Burns ad, Fact-checks, endorsements and … [...]

  12. Anonymous

    Apr 24th, 2010

    Burns had more than one affair, its not a lie. I know the family.
    I understand that you want to focus on the issues, but what about family values? Values are important to many people.
    If no one wants to talk about, thats fair, but it is not a lie. The man had numerous affairs and it destroyed the family.

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