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LEFTOVERS: Fundraising pleas, NRCC lifts Fitzpatrick, Biden/Pelosi details

It was the last day of the FEC fundraising quarter on Wednesday, which meant the typical batch of last-minute pleas from candidates seeking cash.

The morning started with an e-mail from Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz (D-13) on behalf of Manan Trivedi, the Democratic candidate in the 6th District. Schwartz had backed Trivedi’s opponent Doug Pike in the May primary, but now she was going to bat for Trivedi. “This district has been a challenge over these past several election cycles,” Schwartz wrote in an e-mail to Trivedi’s supporters. “So many times we have come so close to taking this seat and turning it blue. I know that we can do it this year with Manan, but we can’t do it without your help.”

Later we heard from newly-elected Delaware County Democratic chief David Landau, who was writing to pull in some last minute dough for Bryan Lentz in the 7th District. “We are just a few thousand dollars shy of our goal,” Landau said. “Any contribution, no matter how small, helps.” Just a few minutes later we got an e-mail from the campaign of Lentz’s Republican opponent, Pat Meehan. “Nancy Pelosi made it clear this week this is one of her top targets for November so we can expect her to throw everything our way,” Meehan wrote to supporters.

We at pa2010.com Central were looking forward to the e-mail asks continuing all the way until the midnight deadline.

Meanwhile, the National Republican Congressional Committee has moved Mike Fitzpatrick up its list of House challengers. Fitzpatrick trying to win back the 8th District seat he lost to Democrat Patrick Murphy in 2006. Already part of the NRCC’s so-called Young Guns program—and we only say “so-called” because not everyone in the program meets our definition of “young”—Fitzpatrick was bumped from “Contender” status to being a full-fledged Young Gun. The program serves as the NRCC’s hub for tracking and helping top-tier House challengers. “Mike Fitzpatrick has proven that he is ready to put this seat back in the Republican column,” Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX), the NRCC chairman, said in a statement. “Mike’s campaign is a symbol of the growing momentum behind Republican candidacies both in Pennsylvania and across the country.”

And we were treated to some more details about the big Joe Biden-Nancy Pelosi-Bryan Lentz fundraiser, thanks to an invitation that showed up in our inbox Wednesday. The invitation bills the event as “Lunch with the Vice President and Speaker of the House.” Hosted by Schwartz and Democratic fundraiser Dan Berger, it’s going down July 19 at the Sheraton in downtown Philadelphia. The invitation doesn’t list any minimum donation amounts, but the proceeds are going to Pennsylvania Victory Fund 2010—the joint fundraising committee through which Lentz and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are splitting the afternoon’s haul.

Always excited at the chance to tie anyone to Nancy Pelosi, Republicans were already getting into the action on this one, with the state GOP branding Lentz a “Biden-Pelosi Democrat,” and GOP chairman Rob Gleason saying in a statement: “Bryan Lentz’s decision to align himself with two of the architects of the most wasteful liberal agenda in American history tells you all you need to know about what type of Congressman Bryan Lentz will be.”

June 30, 2010 at 5:29 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Allyson Schwartz, Bryan Lentz, DCCC, Joe Biden, Manan Trivedi, Mike Fitzpatrick, Nacny Pelosi, NRCC, PA-6, PA-7, PA-8, Pat Meehan

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