Joe helped prop up Toomey to moderates during the primary, while the GOP wishfully assisted Sestak. Does anyone think sestak will continue to prop up Toomey to moderates?

An aside, not blowing smoke:

I had someone from tell me that they were talking to a Southwestern Republican Committeeman before the primary ended and he confidentially told my friend, although he would never admit to it that:

If Specter wins, he knows a lot of Republicans that would definitely cross over and vote for him, including himself.

However, he said if Sestak wins, they are definitely voting for Toomey, which is the case now.

The Sestak shills who were touting the pre-mature polls showing Sestak ahead (mere days after the primary), and who hung their hats on Rasmussen throughout the Primary, are going to come here with something. What will they say?

1) It’s early, so polls don’t count (unless they show Joe ahead, then Whoo-hooo!)
2) It’s Rasmussen with a GOP bias.
3) It’s only one poll.
4) Despite the poll, voters don’t really care that Sestak lied (and contradicted his own story) about a job offer.
5) The undecideds will go for Joe. (neglecting that Joe is in Congress and the party in power, so he has more “incumbent”-ness to him)
6) Run. Joe. Run. (when they can’t think of a good argument)

So, if you are a Sestak shill, please try to post something “original” and not roll a die to pick one of the six standard responses.
If you are a Sestak-shill in training, just roll and pick one.

To save time, just post Response #1 (or #2, etc)

I think everyone knew that Sestak’s numbers were briefly inflated because of his victory over Specter. He is the underdog in this race. Less people know him and he will not have as much money as Toomey. Once the debates start and people will realize how pro-choice, pro-gay, and anti-gun Sestak is he will have a more difficult time. Specter talked about him receiving an F grade from the NRA, but didn’t push it much. Obviously, that will be a much bigger issue in the general election.

Joe Sestak is the Democratic equivalent of Sarah Palin because this guy is an idiot. Every person who voted for Sestak during the Primary in May is also an idiot because they simply paved the way for a Toomey victory in November’s General Election. Joe Sestak is the worst thing to happen to the Democratic Party; Arlen Specter was clearly the better choice and Pennsylvania residents are going to be the ones who suffer. We have two horrible candidates running for Senate because you can’t get much worse than an idiot like Joe Sestak and a Conservative like Pat Toomey.

John-
“everyone knew that Sestak’s numbers were briefly inflated”
Probably not the Sestak fans.

Lance-
Joe does tend to speak a bit like Palin with the long, meaningless stream-of-conscience ramblings sprinkled with trite cliches. He’s not a idiot intellectually, but he’s not to sharp about planning for the long term by making political allies who will go to bat for him.

Dave – You’re right the guy may not be an idiot but he sure as hell sounds like one when he speaks. In the primary Joe ran on the fact that he wasn’t Arlen Specter and he did a good job with his commercials. But what the hell is this guy going to run off now that he doesn’t have Arlen Specter to pick on anyomore because his Navy career and daughter beating cancer won’t be enough to combat the conservative media and tea-baggers across the redneck part of state. Sestak has alienated Obama and just about every Democratic Party leader in PA. Then on top of that, Philadelphia won’t care about the race because the Republican Party in the city is a non-factor so general elections during non-presdiential years are an after-thought because the real battle is fought during the primary. Then add to that the fact that there aren’t any homegrown Philly candidates on the statewide ticket; you can bet that turnout in the city with be really low for this general election. So Setak is in real trouble because you’re going to need more than the far-left and Delaware county Democrats to win a statewide election.

Lance-
Excellent analysis. Sestak has made few friends, and with his damage to Obama, has alienated potential new friends.

Sestak’s best hope is the timing of jobs/economy showing enough of an improvement to counteract Toomey’s attacks on stimulus plan, deficits, etc.

Philly is not going to turn out big for Onorato, nor Sestak. Bob Brady got his GOP opponent kicked off the ballot, so he’s not going to be busting his ass on GOTV in his district, especially for Sestak.

Yep-

He’s caught in a crossfire, particularly when they start running those NRA “F” rating commericals. I am however glad that we are getting a break from seeing Sestak use ancient photos of his sick daughter in his campaign ads. That was way over the line with me, im sure we’ll see it again this Fall.

Also, another thing that bothers me with Sestak is that he walks a very fine line in wearing around his military jacket; etc. It reminds me of, as John Kerry said, when President Bush always used the troops as back drops to all his speeches.

Some sestak people, ive actually hear believe that they think people didnt vote against specter, they came to vote for Joe. In this historic anti incumbent year… i have a very hard time believing that.

Turnout will be historically low in Phil. im predicting.

Sestak needs to point out that the Republicans are making a mountain out of a mole hill over ‘Jobgate’ to distract the voters from debating the real issues at hand because the Republicans have absolutely nothing substantive to run on in the issues department except for tax cuts for the wealthiest among us. If Sestak can make that argument and follow it up by pointing out the positives of the stimulus and other Democratic economic policies for working class and middle class Pennsylvanians he will make up ground on Toomey; even in Rasmussen surveys!

Ummm, aren’t we forgetting that Specter had like a 15 point lead over Sestak with four months to go, when we are deciding how much relevance to place on an early poll…the roll out of the campaigns has only just begun…let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

The Brett poll says they are 3 points apart, back and forth between Toomey and Sestak, but in the end, whoever advertises the most on TV…wins

Gee, what a surprise, a Republican pollster obsessed with driving narratives rather than reflecting public opinion produces a poll with a 7 point margin two days after Sestak releases one showing the opposite. Both are likely wrong, but anyone who trusts Rasmussen for their numbers these days is an idiot (Democrats included).

Hey 6th…

Those are the same Rasmussen numbers joe and his shills boasted about during the primary

Maybe you missed westpadem6 but Sestak won that primary by 8 pts. long way to go till Nov. even for repub shills like you.

Mostly Response #1, with a little Response #2.

Healy- its Democrats like you who basically paved the way for a Toomey victory in November by voting for Sestak this past May. The Republicans are 100% behind Toomey. But Sestak can’t say that about his party because this guy spent the primary giving the finger to Democratic leaders across the state while also bringing bad press to the President. This guy burnt bridges across the entire state. So outside of Delaware County the average person (especially in Philly) is not going to get excited and run out to the polls on election day because Sestak is at the top of the ticket. Joe Sestak is a selfish man because only an ego-maniac like him would think that he could reform the Senate by leaving Congress; which by the way he was for the most part a non-factor in that legislative body. So I’m wondering how can an ineffective Congressman actually reform the Senate and actually do more for the Commonwealth than an elder statesman who holds clout and has experience like Arlen Specter. But hypothetically speaking if Sestak were to win the general election then it would only be a matter of time before he would start running for President. Because in Joe Sestak’s mind the world is a better place with him in offic
e and that is a complete joke. Sestak represents the worst in politics because he’s nothing but an empty suit; except when he wears the bomber j
acket.

A poll is just a snapshot, but this one, if reliable, demonstrates that the Toomey team probably benefitted from some traction from the jobgate story. Unless it balloons out of control in the next few months, which is unlikely, it’s either man’s race.

A few interesting points, though:

1. Turnout among registered Republicans, who had no close primaries (save the 12th) and really no reason to come out and vote, registered a higher turnout than registered Democrats;

2. If the markets keep slipping and the WH keeps taking the heat (unfairly) for the BP spill, this will likely snowball against Democrats – remember 2006, where the Republicans made nothing but a series of mistakes leading up to November, which cost them their majorities;

3. This is Pennsylvania, which cast its electoral votes for Al Gore in 2000 while sending Rick Santorum back to the senate, so really, it depends on what issue(s) is most important to the ticket-splitters, which is probably a combination of big-government/healthcare and mismanagement of the gulf.

Check your calendars, we still have five months to go, where anything can happen.

Healy-

So i am a republican now? Remember, the repub enabler was Sestak. I wasnt the one at the booze party kissing w toomey… that was joe. Wipe the kool aid stains from your face. Rasmussen polling value given by people like you and how it changes… is nothing that utter hypocrisy, esp. when Joe and his drones hung their hat on it (several times) in the primary.

6thDistrictDem
“two days after Sestak releases one”??
Are you referring to the Daily KOS poll take 1 week after the primary and before the White House “official” story about the “job” offer?
Sestak hasn’t released any polls

Bill-
Sestak won the primary? Really? We hadn’t heard. Thanks for the update.
However, winning the primary is one thing. Understanding why you won is something else. Besides the hard work, you guys won on anti-Specter votes, rather than pro-Sestak.
And that was before Sestak’s public urination on the Democratic party (aka victory speech). While plenty of Dems in the party would prefer Sestak to Toomey, Joe has given them little reason to bust their asses for him.

WestDem-
Bill wouldn’t know a Dem if one sat on his face (as if one could since Bill never stops kissing Joe’s ass long enough).

Lance-
A local Dem leader made an interesting quip/observation to me the other day. He said, “Joe just wants a title next to his name.”

Westdem, your the one who is so taken with the idea of electing an 80 year old, 45 year member of the republican party to represent the future of the Democratic Party (tanamount to saying the Democratic party has no future in Pa.) and has done nothing but slam the winner of the democratic primary,so yeah I doubt your or diano’s bona fide’s as REAL Democrats. I do suspect your a republican rat.

Bill-
You can’t control the “future” if you don’t control the present.

Bill, labeling anyone who disagrees with you or has anything critical to say about Joe Sestak does not make them a “fake Democrat” or a “Republican rat.” In fact, it’s pretty pathetic and downright juvenile that that’s all you can come up with in retort.

You’d do more for your points of view by supporting them with analysis rather than “your [sic] a republican rat.” Let’s all be adults here.

WESTPADEM6: Your response is not relevant.

David Diano:

http://www.pa2010.com/2010/06/dem-poll-shows-sestak-up-7/#comments

Well theres always the green party candidate… im leaning towards that.

RCP’s moving average puts Toomey ahead by 1.7%. Translation: these polls are meaningless.

It is interesting, though, that the Quinnipiac poll, despite being before the primary, is the only one with more than 1,000 RV and puts the race almost tied. So that’s probably a more accurate reflection of where we are.

6thDistrictDem-
That internal Dem poll was taken May 21-23th for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/1-2-3-7.html
As the article points out:
(Both polls should be taken with a measure of caution as one was paid for by the Democratic Senatorial campaign arm and the other funded by a liberal blog.)
Sestak almost certainly is benefiting from the flood of positive press he received following his win on May 18. It remains to be seen whether that momentum can be maintained through the fall.

So, according to Rasmussen, Sestak didn’t even maintain it before the summer started.
The previous polls were BEFORE the job-gate and the WH vs Sestak contradictory explanations.

Matt M.-
You’ve got Bill Healy pegged. See, he’s not really part of the Democratic party, he’s just in the “Sestak Party”.

Dave- Great point regarding the “Sestak Party” because this guy has proven that he’s willing to risk getting more Republicans elected in order to advance his own personal agenda. Joe Sestak is a cancer to the Democratic party.

Matt- You also made a good point regarding the Green candidate because as a “GOOD DEMOCRAT” I’d never vote for a conservative like Pat Toomey but there’s no way I could vote for Joe Sestak because he has proven to be a liar and an ego-maniac with something to hide (i.e. Getting fired in the military and the W.H. Job offer). So I’m going to take a serious look at the Green Party Candidate because at least I know that this person is a true liberal.

Bill- I would argue that you’re not a “GOOD DEMOCRAT” but rather a “Sestak Rat” because people like you who worship at the altar of Joe Sestak think that just because he won primary that we all should just follow him as if this guy saved the party. Well the hell with that. All Joe Sestak cares about is advancing his own agenda and he’ll bring down the President and the Democratic Party in order to do so. Joe Sestak is no leader but rather a fraud of a politician who’s using these seats as a means of obtaining power. I’m a “REAL DEMOCRAT” and I’m not voting for Joe Sestak under any circumstances whatsoever. So Bill, you and all of the other “Sestak Rats” can continue to praise the Almighty Joe and serve as an apologist for him no matter what damage he does to the Democratic Party and the President but your guy is a parasite. And because people like you voted for him in the primary that Pat Toomey is going to be our next Senator. Shame on you Bill Healy.

Lance. What would you define as a good democrat? A conservative one with good fiscal values unlike the socialists in congress? This is a serious question, I am not trying to sound like a dick btw.

Mike-
I don’t know Lance’s definition a “good democrat”, but for my own, it’s a combination of
1) the right votes on the right issues

2) pushing key issues, rather than just voting for them just to go along

3) voting against the party when they cave to conservative pressure (and not caving to conservative pressure to vote against the party)
4) supporting the party and other democratic candidates.

Sestak has been a failure on #3 (Iraq Vote) and #4 (pretty much all the time).

Sestak’s okay on #1, and hasn’t really shown leadership on #2.

Basically, Sestak’s a generally reliable vote with the majority of Dems, because he needs to be to stay in office. He’s got a job, a title and the prestige he craves, and will step over anyone who gets in the way of more of that (including causing a scandal/embarrassment for the White House).

I agree David (Only on #1 it scares the heck out of me).
If he is successful in reaching the Senate whch I hope he is not, he is going to run for president. When I met him I could easily tell he had a towering ego.

BTW, the same applies to Casey in the Senate. I rarely hear about him. He is off the radar. He votes with democrats for the majority of times and does not seem to do much.

mike-
Casey had the balls to stand up and vote FOR continued funding of ACORN after FoxNews aired that fake “pimp” video. I give him a lot of credit for that, because there was a lot of pressure to cave before the facts were in.

Acorn is hack org. They should be dry of federal money. I seem to disagree sharply with you on the issues david

WestPaDemI believe you said it well. None of the above is good for the people of PA

However one will get elected but NOT with my vote, Never as both are really bad

When the Democrats of the Statewide Nomination and Reccomendation Committee endorsed Specter over Sestak it was with the knowledge that Sestak would have a hard time beating Toomey. Obama, Biden and Rendell threw us all under the bus. There needed to be more and Obama’s lack of enthusiasm for this race. Many of the 77% of the Members who endorsed Sen Specter really have a problem with Sestak’s tactics. He out and out lied over the “Job Offer”-it was an attempt to have in step aside and run for his Congressional Seat. HIs “take no prisoners” campaign won but can he beat Toomey? He went around saying that Obama really wanted him, but we believed Obama. The “Adults” of the Dem Party endorsed–we will all have to live with the results of the election.

David D
That is what happens when people vote blindly. Even the 14th ward of Pgh voted as you know for Sestak and they are good people that just hates the party line.Too me it is a good place to start for the fall. Forget Delco they don’t really care about issues but playing “team” politics.

mike-
Acorn has done a lot to get the poor and minorities registered to vote. That’s why the GOP has been after them. If they were registering middle-class white men, the GOP would be embracing them.
The videos shown on Fox were fabrications as presented, and Acorn got the knee-jerk reaction of politicians who couldn’t wait for the facts to come out.

Mike- Sorry for the dealyed response. There’s no single definition that makes a good Democrat. But I can tell you what makes a bad Democrat:

-Somebody who would risk losing seats in the US Senate, US House, and PA House to Republicans just to pursue their own political ambitions.

Sestak perfectly fits the description of a Bad Democrat.

Its so refreshing to see pa2010 give the shrinking minority of anti-sestak pseudo-democrats a forum to voince their frustration. Too bad for them that a MAJORITY of Pennsylvania Democrats support Joe Sestak’s as the candidate for the Senate,as much as they would prefer an octagerian republican it’s just not gonna happen.
Lance if that’s your true name,are you even registered to vote in Pa. a database search shows no record of you existing in Pa. let alone being a registerd Democrat. Just keep carrying water for Toomey maybe he’ll put you on staff. As for risking losing seats,well that’s always a chance we take in elections, what makes you think Joe’s seat wouldn’t be at risk if he had not taken on Sen. Specter? Do you think the republican rats in Delco would have just scurried for cover and not run Meehan? The Democratic Party is better served (and most Dems agree-based on the election results) by having a real Democrat like Joe Sestak to offer a clear choice vs. Toomey. Based on the contacts I have made with voters daily Sestak has attracted the majority of former Specter supporters and is making inroads with republicans. Sestak by 12 pts in Nov.

Bill- Lance Chang is an alias and no I’m not posting my government name; so you can feel free to tease me about that if you like.

You and the other Sestak-Rats are delusional if you think that PA residents stood tall for Joe Sestak. The 2010 Primary was clearly a referendum against Arlen Specter because Donald Duck could’ve won that election. The fact of the matter is that Sestak got lucky in 2006 against Weldon and he got lucky in 2010 against Specter. Dems I’ve talked to in Philadelphia hardly even care about the race and that’s where the majority of votes will come from. Philadelphia residents aren’t going to come out in large numbers for Joe Sestak; he’ll barely get 100,000 votes from the city and that will spell trouble for him statewide.

Joe Sestak is a selfish man who is running for office to serve his own career interests not the people of PA. That’s why he abandoned his Congressional seat and if elected you can guarantee that he’ll start lobbying to become President because that’s what selfish ego-maniacs do. The Deomcratic Party is going to lose seats and will be left in shambles after November because of Joe Sestak’s personal ambitions.

Joe Sestak and his minions of Sestak-Rats like Bill Healy are the pseudo-democrats who are ruining the party because he is to the Democrats what Sarah Palin is to the Republicans. Joe Sestak stands for Joe Sestak only not the residents of PA.

So I’m guessing no one is Conservative/Republican here?

Lance. I disagree with you about Sarah Palin being to the right what Sestak is to the left. However if you’re talking about Pelosi…lol

Lance your a coward,the election was about the Democratic rank and file getting behind a real actual democrat and a republican retread pretending to be a democrat. Too bad about you losing your job when Specter has to retire in Jan. you were or are a Specter staffer aren’t you. Does that make you a pseudo-republican or a pseudo-democrat. Oh well good luck getting a job with Toomey, though I doubt he will hire a loser like you.

Gee Lance I thought that egomaniacs switched parties and hope noone notices that they had opposed everything their new party stood for, for 35 years. If your using the same crystal ball for the election predictions that DD and other anti-Sestak fools have been using it’s time for a new one that one is cracked and clouded. I expect Joe won’t run for President till at least 2016, after Obama has finished his second term.

Mike no moron conservative republicans here only realist, who could support a conservative republican after all the destruction they have brought upon this nation? Deregulating the Oil Corps and Banks have been such a smashing success.

Bill- Like I said you can make fun of me all that you want but I’m still not going to disclose my government name here in cyberspace.

To be perfectly honest with you I was never too big of a Specter fan because his age and his health was a concern to me. Members of my family and other good Democrats in my community vouched for Specter and said that they voted for him over the years. Still, I gave both candidates a fair chance at earning my vote and I was totally turned-off by Sestak’s antics during the primary (i.e. hiding his military records, throwing Obama under the bus, quitting on his congressional district, just not answering tough questions, and looking like a complete moron during the debate). Plus, Sestak is a terrible public speaker because his speeches are too long and quite frankly he is totally boring. All he ever talks about is me, me, me; nothing about what he did for PA. It was all about him being in the Navy and his daughter being sick but never about the issues. The way he threw Obama under the bus was disgusting and the way Bill Healy and other Sestak-Rats act as if the guy walks on water and can do no wrong is even worse.

If you look at the entire picture then you’d see that PA would be best served for the next few years with Specter in the Senate, Sestak in the US House, and Lentz in the PA House. But Joe Setak doesn’t see the entire picture because he is an ego-maniac opportunist WHO doesn’t care about whats best for the state and Democratic party; he just wants to build his own political career even at the expense of electing more Republicans.

JOE SESTAK IS NOT A MAN OF HONOR AND INTEGRITY HE EPITOMIZES SELFISHNESS AND GREED.

Bill- Joe’s run for the Senate right now is probably just a stepping stone for him running for President in 2016. So hypothetically speaking, if elected then Joe will probably quit on PA just like he did the 7th Congressional District so that he can add another title to his name and promote himself as being the greatest person to ever run for office because he served in the Navy. This guy is a joke.

JOE SESTAK REPRESENTS THE WORST OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, ITS VALUES, AND ITS PRINCIPLES!

Bill- I don’t give a damn about Arlen Specter so talking crap about him won’t upset me at all. Yeah I voted for Specter but hell as far as I know that guy could be like 100 years old. I just think Joe Sestak is a total fraud and an idiot like Sarah Palin.

Not a big a fraud as you are claiming to be a democrat and voting for a repub retread, do the Democratic Party a favor and just become a real republican. When did Joe quit his position as Congressman for the 7th district. If not for Joe Sestak we would still have some republican hack representing us. I don’t blame you for hiding like a coward,when you can’t defend your statements. Go join Diano for Cheetos and video games in his basement.

Lance – ignore Bill Healy. He reminds me of my five-year-old nephew who often spouts jibberish, can’t finish his sentences, and becomes petulant and uncontrollable when he’s had too much sugar.

Your point about the primary being a referendum on Specter is very much to the point. The Philadelphia turnout was around the lowest it’s ever been in a primary – Specter had just run his course with his key constituency. Perhaps it was the party shift, his age, or even the weather (the rain was horrid), but too many factors worked against him.

I know many Democrats who, rightly or wrongly, felt that Specter’s time was up. Many of them couldn’t tell you a thing about Joe Sestak, other than that he was the guy in opposition.

Working against Sestak is his significant cash shortfall, his incumbency, his short but decidedly liberal voting record with moderate/right-of-center PA voters, and yes, “jobgate.”

Working in Sestak’s favor is OFA and his work ethic.

Everything depends on how the Obama administration fares in the next few months, and whether jobgate gains anymore traction. We’ll just have to wait and see, but this is either man’s race.

Bill- Why are you so obsessed with arlen specter and why are you making so many assumptions about me? The reason I choose to use an alias is because I’m a small business owner from the philly suburbs so I don’t need you or any other sestak-rat and/or government official researching any type of information about myself and my family. I’ve never worked for any politician and I never will. Basically I think that joe sestak is a P.O.S. but that doesn’t mean I’m a republican or that I’m even voting for a Republican. Instead I’m just a Democrat who will abstain from voting in the upcoming U.S. Senate race. But Dan Onorato and the rest of the democrats on the ticket will have my support 100%.

The only way I’ll vote for sestak is if he promises not to talk about the navy or his daughter while campaigning.