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LEFTOVERS: More Toomey stuff, Cook on the 8th & 10th, vets for Gerlach

You know that enduring image of a room full of monkeys on typewriters? Well, somewhere in Washington, the Democratic Party must have a roomful of monkeys looking back at every word Pat Toomey ever said as a congressman.

OK, not that research interns are monkeys. But the party is obviously working hard on this, because it keeps dredging up old videos of the Republican Senate nominee talking about derivatives. We already reported on the first video, from a 1999 floor speech. As Democrats seek to bolster their argument that Toomey is some kind of risky-derivatives-apologist, two more have come to light.

The second was reported by The Inquirer. In that one, Toomey said that a 2000 deregulatory measure would “allow greater flexibility in the electronic trading” of over-the-counter derivatives (the bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support). And the third one was reported by The Morning Call, which cited Toomey as saying in 2003 that such derivatives are “perhaps the most important, creative and innovative development in finance in the last 30 years.”

Democrats called it a “hat trick.” This after they got burned over their ad blaming him for developing the derivatives that brought down the economy.

Speaking of Toomey, our friends at The Morning Call also tell us that he’ll soon be embarking on a “more jobs, less government” tour. That mantra, is of course, a mainstay of his campaign ads.

Meanwhile, political forecaster extraordinaire Charlie Cook and his Cook Political Report have decided a couple of House races in Pennsylvania just got more competitive. The 8th Congressional District was moved from Leans Democratic to Toss Up, while the 10th District was moved from Likely Democratic to Lean Democratic. In both races, Democratic incumbents have fundraising advantages that many expect will help them survive the GOP-friendly political climate. But Cook says there’s reason for Democrats to worry.

“Very little polling has been released on where the race in this Bucks County-based district stands,” Cook wrote about the 8th, “but if [Democrat Patrick] Murphy was only able to unseat Republican Mike Fitzpatrick by 1,518 votes in 2006, it’s hard to see how four years in Washington gets him in a much better position for a rematch in this kind of political environment.”

As for the 10th: “…this district’s strong GOP tilt and [Chris] Carney’s vote for health care reform mean Democrats will need to spend lots of money to keep the seat in their column in November, regardless of how serious a threat [Tom] Marino appears today.”

And a couple weeks after Democrat Manan Trivedi trotted out veterans on video to strike back at Congressman Jim Gerlach’s (R-6) attacks on his residency, Gerlach’s campaign released its own Web video (embedded at bottom), replete with veterans talking up the 6th District Republican. “I know Jim Gerlach,” one vet says in the video. “I don’t know Trivedi. I don’t think he really knows this district. Not the way Jim does.”

share001btn LEFTOVERS: More Toomey stuff, Cook on the 8th & 10th, vets for Gerlach

August 18, 2010 at 11:46 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

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comments [11] | post a comment

  1. Desperate in 6

    Aug 19th, 2010

    Jim, you must be desperate if you think you have to waste money on an ad like this. Was it shot in a fishbowl? or with your Flip video camera?

  2. Scott from Yardley

    Aug 19th, 2010

    I will try and be as unbiased as possible about this race(I will be voting for Fitz)Bucks County is very Red at the Top and gets progressively bluer as you head down into NE Philly. Fitzpatrick is from Levittown a key voting area in lower bucks. Levittown is a pretty democratic but will vote Republican in local elections for local boys(Jim Cawley,Mark Schweiker and Fitzpatrick). All Fitz has to is take like 55% of Levitown and he will win Bucks County. Which means Murphy will need carry the small area’s of the 8th in Montgomery County and NE Philly by wide margins. That will be hard to do in this type of political environment. I think you guys should focus more on this race then 6th which prob. wont even be that close. 8th is gonna be a real nail biter.

  3. Scott from Yardley

    Aug 19th, 2010

    So many grammatical errors in that sorry guys my brain in shot from GMAT stuff

  4. Bucks Voter 3

    Aug 19th, 2010

    FitzFlop is an uninspiring same-old same-old (literally from the Bush days) GOP candidate. His flip-flopping on core conservative issues (Card Check, Cap and Trade, sanctuary cities, earmarks, etc.) and association with Fawkes/Poprik/Bucks GOP will keep many anti-RINO conservatives away – and in a race where every vote is important, this will be significant. And I know very few independents who are excited about or will even consider voting for the Mike Fitzpatrick that they came to know in 2004-06. Plus, I do not know any Dems who will vote for Mike over Patrick – I am sure you can dig some up but they are clearly a very small minority.

    The only way FitzFlop wins is if the economy gets significantly worse between now and Election Day … which could happen. If nothing changes – and especially if Lingenfelter is on the ballot, Murphy wins by 3 to 5 percent.

  5. Adam S.

    Aug 19th, 2010

    I wish they would focus on issues, but JIM GERLACH has decided to talk about nothing but “who knows the district better”. It’s a strange strategy considering that he is from Western PA and Trivedi is from Berks County. What’s the matter Jim? Afraid your record of voting NO on everything isn’t good enough?

  6. TB

    Aug 19th, 2010

    @ Scott Your boy the FitzFlopper is going to the floor. He may be able to beat cancer but he can’t beat Patrick Murphy. After this campaign FitzFlopper will be politically dead and Pennsylvania will be better for it.

  7. Augusta

    Aug 19th, 2010

    There’s a huge problem with Gerlach’s vet rebuttal.

    Gerlach didn’t serve, Trevedi did
    In their heart of heart’s veterans are going to lean towards a fellow soldier, not a career politian like Gerlach.

  8. ConcernedforPA

    Aug 19th, 2010

    Don’t think Gerlach should be criticized for not being in the military. He might have been too young for Vietnam and too old for Desert Storm, ect.
    I do know that he worked tirelessly to get a Veterans Cemetery here in our area.

  9. Anonymous

    Aug 19th, 2010

    Don’t think you need a war to serve your country.

  10. Anonymous

    Aug 19th, 2010

    At least Trevedi served, and he didn’t need a draft to do so.

  11. to anonymous

    Aug 19th, 2010

    so you’re saying then, under that criteria, that Obama should not be in the White House and John McCain should?

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