The Washington Post

pa2012.com is proud to partner with The Washington Post in bringing our originally reported insider political news to a wide audience of decision makers and opinion leaders across the country.

Close it

LEFTOVERS: Sestak tries another pull, more Onorato, Burns slows

Democrat Joe Sestak got two Pittsburgh stations to pull an ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but that’s not all he’s trying to do. Politico reports that Sestak is also going after an ad being run by a new conservative Middle East policy group.

The ad says Sestak is no friend of Israel. But Sestak’s lawyer and longtime political aide Jared Solomon tried to dissuade Comcast from running the ad on its stations, saying that the former Navy Admiral was “willing to put his life on the line to defend Israel.”

“This advertisement is false and misleading,” Solomon wrote in the letter, “and knowingly misstates various facts with respect to Congressman Sestak’s position and record on Israel.”

In case you missed it, Republican Pat Toomey was less than impressed by Sestak’s efforts to pull the Chamber of Commerce ad.

Meanwhile, we wrote earlier about Democrat Dan Onorato staying on offense in the gubernatorial race against Republican Tom Corbett, but one piece we missed was Onorato’s morning appearance on Fox29. One of the things we at pa2010.com Central love about Fox29 (other than that they’ve hosted yours truly as a guest) is that they reliably post video of their interviews online. So you can see Onorato’s appearance on the show embedded at bottom.

And in the wake of a high-profile special election loss in the 12th District, Republican Tim Burns appears to be slowing down a bit. He raised only about $10,000 over the last three weeks of June, compared to about $173,000 raised during the same period by Congressman Mark Critz. The cash-on-hand situation is a little different. Critz reports having more than $166,000 in the bank, but he still owes $76,000 in outstanding debt. Burns, meanwhile, has $163,000, mostly thanks to the large sums that he’s loaned his own campaign.

But couple the slower fundraising pace with the fact that, just over 100 days out, Burns doesn’t have a campaign manager to replace the one who recently left, and it’s easy to see why some Republicans are quietly counting out the western Pennsylvania district as a competitive seat. Burns adviser Kent Gates tells pa2010.com‘s John Manganaro that there’s nothing to worry about.

“We’re going to hire a campaign manager at the appropriate time,” Gates said. “There is a long way between now and November, and we’re continuing to progress.

“It’s not like he’s sitting there with nobody helping him,” Gates added. “That’s just not the case. I’m the general consultant, it’s not like I haven’t done this before.”

share001btn LEFTOVERS: Sestak tries another pull, more Onorato, Burns slows

July 15, 2010 at 7:30 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: , , , , , ,

comments

comments [11] | post a comment

  1. Usama Bin Laden

    Jul 15th, 2010

    CORBETT AND CONVICTED FELON ROBERT ASHER PERFECT TOGETHER

  2. David Diano

    Jul 16th, 2010

    In the primary, Sestak had no qualms about distorting Specter’s record and quoting him out of context with selective editing.
    The Toomey ad listed Sestak’s votes, and various actions and drew the same kind of bogus political conclusions typical of such ads. Just like Sestak
    Instead of whining like a little girl Sestak should just reshoot that lame Vets ad, but dress everybody like rabbis.

  3. bill healy

    Jul 16th, 2010

    Anti-semitic and anti-military too Dave. you make one hell of a Democrat, why not just change your registration to (R)

  4. David Diano

    Jul 16th, 2010

    Anti-semitic?? I’m just pointing out the kind of advertising style the Sestak campaign uses and suggesting an ad that would be consistent with it. I don’t think that Joe is either for or against Israel. To someone like Joe, Israel is a political football to run with to get elected. In military terms, it’s probably just a location with nearby access to strategic resources.
    I think it’s great that Obama is making efforts to hold Israel accountable when it engages in bad policy. I hope Joe supports those efforts.

    I think it’s pro-military to oppose vets that represent what’s wrong in the military.

  5. Marcus

    Jul 17th, 2010

    David Daino – anti-semitic, racist, expresses hatred for the men and women who have served our country in the armed forces, probably despises those of a different sexual orientation than him too. You must have a ton of friends…..

  6. rplinpa

    Jul 18th, 2010

    Look, Diano hates Sestak and will do anything and say anything to discredit the Congressman and his campaign. This is really old news and anyone, ANYONE who takes Diano as even remotely balanced and fair in his “analysis” of Sestak is nuts. Sestak could be in an ad with Diano’s mother and Diano would charge Sestak with pandering to seniors.

    Give it up Diano, we know you’ve got a hair up your ass and your disingenuous attempts to appear objective are just plain bull. That you claim to know what Sestak is thinking is bs. Just as you claims to “know for a fact” Sestak would lose against Specter… we just know you don’t know what you are talking about.

    These blog comments used to be interesting until Diano hijacked it. Now it’s just another tin foil hat sounding board. Pack it up Diano. Doesn’t Glenn Beck have a blog you could lurk on? That’s more your speed.

  7. Jeff

    Jul 19th, 2010

    If David Diano was a Republican and supported Toomey because of different beliefs than Sestak, I’d be fine with that. But, he’s not a Republican. He’s a Spectercrat. He has no beliefse other than whatever Arlen Specter tells him to believe. It is almost unimaginable to hear someone like Diano worship a man like Specter. Diano’s clownish lies about staying out of the general election if Sestak won is about as bad as Specter going from Democrat to Republican to Democrat as the political whims change. Trust me, Specter would be running as a Libertarian in Nov if the law allowed him….and Diano would back him 100% all the way. It’s gotten beyond sad. David Diano’s lowfest with Specter is just pathetic now. The only thing worse would be someone having a lovefest with Special Ed Rendell. I hope I never see that happen.

  8. Joe C

    Jul 19th, 2010

    Dave Diano just got crushed.

  9. Matt M.

    Jul 19th, 2010

    Oh please. David is a Democrat who cares about the party, so he’s naturally uncomfortable when a charlatan like Joe Sestak prances on the scene and pretends to be a liberal devotee.

    Diano knows who and what Joe Sestak really is, and is (thankfully) not afraid to tell the rest of us. Read his comments on the Lentz/Meehan race, he’s in-the-know, and is a true-blue believer.

    Keep posting David!

  10. David Diano

    Jul 19th, 2010

    Marcus-
    Putting US interests first, ahead of Israel, isn’t anti-semitic. Too many politicians bow to Israel’s lobby, which is dedicated to putting Israel first, and condemning any criticism. I find it foolish that people believe that Iran with one nuke, would actually use it, when Israel has hundreds. Yet, right wingers are encouraging preemptive strikes inside Iran.

    I have plenty of respect for the soldiers, and equal contempt for the armchair warriors that started the conflict, and are advocating more conflict.

    rplinpa-
    You are just upset because I’m not afraid to expose Sestak for the fraud he is. The choice between him and Toomey is like trying to choose between a burglar and a car thief.
    Like a lot of people, I was blind-sided by the stupidity of the voters outside of SEPA. Specter won in the part of the state that already knew both candidates. Ironically, outside of SEPA is where Toomey will get the most traction from Dems.

    Matt-
    You’ve seen the real Sestak. I’m really hoping we can get Lentz. He’s an ethical, dedicated public servant that Sestak only pretended to be.
    The MOST important race on the ballot is your own St Leg race, because of redistricting. The senate race is the least important race this year (though, it will get disproportionate attention).

    Jeff-
    Specter’s a more honest representative of Democratic principles than Sestak. Joe can quack like a dem on the campaign trail, but there is scant belief that he’s doing more than reciting talking points.
    I’m not a fan of Specter, but I was quite clear that he was the lesser of the three evils. If Sestak hadn’t challenged Specter, we’d be far ahead, instead of millions of dollars behind. Sestak has damaged the Democratic party and the White House. His antics have probably cost us the seat, and will hurt down-ticket candidates.
    There’s no reason to celebrate the waste of nearly $10 million on a primary.

  11. FACTS

    Jul 19th, 2010

    In “the part of the state that already knew both candidates” (i.e. the 7th CD) Sestak won better than 2 to 1 with 68% of the votes.

Leave a Reply


- will not be published