Michael Barley's Blog
Michael Barley's Blog
The PA GOP Pulse
send to a friend | print | comment
Coming down to the wire
The clash between Senator Arlen Specter and Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7) has been arguably the most interesting race to watch in what has shaped up to be a fascinating primary season.
Make no mistake about it, we have a real race brewing and I believe we may be witnessing the last few days of Senator Specter’s political career. I always believed this race would tighten, but now it appears that Specter is in serious jeopardy of losing the primary. After spending months talking to Republicans, independents and yes, even Democrats, it’s clear that everyone, regardless of their political persuasion, seems to have serious trust issues with Specter after he admitted that he switched political parties because he couldn’t be reelected as a Republican. Sestak, who has run a less than spectacular campaign, is the beneficiary of the anti-Specter backlash.
And in a direct contrast to the chaos on the Democratic side, our Republican candidate Pat Toomey’s campaign really couldn’t be doing any better. His message of fiscal responsibility, smaller government and lower taxes is resonating with voters and he has been able to raise more funds than both of his Democratic opponents. He clearly has the advantage over either of the Democratic candidates, regardless of who survives their contested primary.
In the governor’s race, Tom Corbett is well positioned heading into the Primary and seems to be on solid footing as we move towards the general election. Corbett has been working hard on the campaign trail, unveiling his plans to fix Harrisburg, create jobs and get Pennsylvania working again. The Corbett campaign is rounding into great shape is running on all cylinders. This is a great sign as we transition from the primary to the general election cycle.
The same can’t be said on the Democratic side, as the main storyline in the race to take the mantle from Ed Rendell has been a general malaise regarding the candidates. Voters have only been able to identify Dan Onorato, whose I affectionately refer to as Dan, Dan, The Drink Tax Man, a reference to his tax on poured drinks in Allegheny County.
The race for Lieutenant Governor on the GOP side is a contest with a number of candidates. The best candidate in the race is Bucks County Commissioner Jim Cawley, a terrific candidate with a proven track record of promoting the Republican values of limited government and fiscal discipline. The state party’s endorsed candidate, he is the best person to work with Tom Corbett to get Pennsylvania back on track, and I look forward to joining with countless other Pennsylvanians in electing them both on May 18 and Nov. 2.
May 11, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Tags: cawley, Corbett, Onorato, sestak, Specter, toomey
Leave a Reply
pa2012.com blogs
Red in a Sea of Blue
Purple in Pennsylvania
Contact Michael Barley
E-mail: mbarley@pagop.org
Twitter: @
Bio: Michael Barley is communications and technology director for the Pennsylvania Republican Party.
Polls
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.Stay connected with pa2012.com:
advertisement
advertisement
Peg Luksik will Beat Tomeby
May 11th, 2010
Peg Luksik is in the Republican Senate Race and Frankly it is poor reporting on your part and in bad taste to not mention her . She will beat Wall Street Tombey
Lee Levan
May 12th, 2010
Michael-
Your boy Toomey is doing well because he has no serious primary opposition and because the Dems have been a little busy recently sorting out their intraparty contest. Toomey has had time to purchase and model a brand new moderate’s costume wardrobe.
But it won’t be long until the winning Dem candidiate exposes Toomey as the extremist that he is, hiding inside that moderate’s costume. Then, watch him sink in the polls. PA doesn’t like extremists of any party.
It will be fun to see Toomey sweat while trying to maintain his moderate’s demeanor disguise. But you know as well as I that he is such a “true believer” that he has no chance of pulling it off until November. Can’t wait for the fun to begin.
Let’s see those Tea Partiers pressure Toomey to expose himself, lest they be disappointed. What’s a radical right winger to do?
bill healy
May 12th, 2010
Oh yeah, Pennsylvanian’s can’t wait to vote for a dirivitive trader who’s been runnig the club for greed the past few years,can you see the ads,Pat Toomey intoduced the bill to repeal Glass Seagal and allow Wall Street to plunder your pension and 401(k). Sure gets my vote. LOL. Good luck with that one. Or Pat Toomey thinks he knows better than women who should control their bodies.
onenastybeast
May 22nd, 2010
The problem with liberals is they think this is a center left state instead of center right. The independents will vote with the GOP this time. We’ve already seen how the Ds act when they’re in control. And that win for Critz was really wonderful. All GOP talking points. Let’s see you get single-payor through with someone like Critz, Lee–if he survives November. After all, why wold Burns lower the boom on that crook before the Ds nominate him?
bill healy
May 23rd, 2010
LOL Republicans keep telling themselves that the country and now the state of Pa. are center-right while losing election after election. Maybe your prism is cracked. We’ve seen how the GOP acts when their in control too, failed banks that they bail out,auto industry destroyed because they failed to do anything on healthcare,wars waged for no reason,wars poorly managed except for taking care of the proffitters,massive debt etc…not a record to run on.