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LEFTOVERS: Chamber’s new ad, cross-party support, another Boehner event

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is escalating its air war against Democrat Joe Sestak with a second TV ad that ties the Senate candidate to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Chamber formally unveiled the 30-second spot Monday.

You’ll recall that Sestak’s campaign briefly got a couple Pittsburgh stations to remove the Chamber’s first ad because of the difference between 100 percent and 97 percent, a decision that was quickly reversed.

That must have rubbed the business lobby the wrong way, because the latest ad starts by asking: “Why does Joe Sestak deny voting lockstep with Nancy Pelosi?” The ad, which the chamber says is airing in “multiple media markets,” goes on to hit Sestak for voting in favor of health care reform and cap-and-trade legislation. Check out the ad at bottom.

Meanwhile in the Senate race, Sestak and Republican Pat Toomey did a little jockeying over cross-party support. It started when Sestak, responding to Senator Susan Collins’ fundraiser for Toomey, started a little Republicans for Sestak roll-out. Some of his GOP supporters joined him at the Constitution Center in Philly. “In this time of economic crisis, we are not just Republicans or Democrats, we are Pennsylvanians searching for answers to the trials we face,” Frank Gastner, an Army veteran, retired manufacturing representative and Republican supporter, said in a statement later. “We need a senator who, rather than pursue partisan ideology, will look to pragmatic solutions to help move us beyond these tough times. Admiral Sestak will stand up for Pennsylvania’s working families and fight not for the liberal answer or the conservative answer, but the right answer.”

But before Sestak’s campaign release hit the wire, The Daily News had reported that four Republicans spoke at the event. The Toomey campaign apparently took that number four to represent the entirety of Sestak’s cross-party support, and quickly e-mailed reporters a statement boasting that Democrats for Toomey is “ten times larger” than Republicans for Sestak. Toomey’s camp included a list of 40 Democrats.

Anyway, we’re hearing from Sestak’s campaign that the Republicans for Sestak steering committee numbers about 50, and that a list will be published when things are finalized. But if nothing else, the back-and-forth made for a fun “bigger than yours” moment.

And finally, we learned late Monday of yet another fundraiser that House Minority John Boehner will be headlining while he’s in Pennsylvania. An invitation we got our hands on says Boehner will raise some cash for Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-6) on the evening of Aug. 12 in West Conshohocken. It costs a cool $2,000 for the VIP reception, but you can get into the main event at the Marriot for as little as $250 a person.

For those of your keeping score at home, that’s four events benefiting five candidates in two days for the Minority Leader. To recap: Tim Burns and Jim Gerlach on Aug. 12, Pat Meehan and Mike Fitzpatrick in a joint event on Aug. 13, and Charlie Dent later that day.

Looks like Boehner won’t have much time for sightseeing.

August 2, 2010 at 11:05 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Jim Gerlach, Joe Sestak, John Boehner, PA-6, Pat Toomey

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