SENATE NOTES: Hagel for Sestak, porn site owner gives to Toomey, bus tours

There’s been a flurry of action in the Senate race the last few days, as both candidates have been building momentum toward November.

Democrat Joe Sestak will look to continue building his independent cred Tuesday, when he gets an endorsement from former Senator Chuck Hagel. The Nebraska Republican is the type of moderate who has found there is increasingly little room for his kind in Washington, and chose not to seek reelection in 2008. He’ll…

Callahan changes finance directors

Democratic congressional candidate John Callahan quietly parted ways with longtime finance director Leora Rothenberg earlier this month, making a major staff change less than 100 days before the election.

Callahan campaign manager Justin Schall cited “undisclosed personnel matters” for the change, but declined to go into specifics. Callahan has been a fundraising success story for the Democrats, with the White House recruit in the 15th Congressional District staying neck-and-neck with incumbent Republican Charlie Dent in…

DSCC might drop more than $4M on Senate race

Democrats are getting ready to spend big on Pennsylvania’s competitive U.S. Senate race.

Having already made its first ad buy in the race recently, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has purchases or reserved about $4.4 million worth of airtime in the race between Joe Sestak and Republican Pat Toomey, The Inquirer

Lentz Holds Town Hall Forum on Jobs and Economy in Havertown for Ninth Stop on Economic Tour

By LENTZ FOR CONGRESS

Springfield, PA – Representative Bryan Lentz, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, held an hour-long town hall forum on jobs at the Haverford Township Free Library in Havertown today for the ninth stop of his 10 week, 25-stop economic tour of the District. The forum was attended by more than 40 people, who expressed concerns about job creation, ending the country’s dependence on foreign oil and the…

Williams’ voucher donors staying on the sidelines

The millionaire investors from suburban Philadelphia who pThe founders of Susquehanna Investment Group—Jeffrey Yass, Arthur Dantchik, and Joel Greenberg—do not intend to write substantial checks to Dan Onorato’s campaign despite the Democratic nominee’s newly announced a href="http://www.pa2010.com/2010/08/onorato-looks-for-school-choice-mantle-from-williams/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2010%2F08%2Fonorato-looks-for-school-choice-mantle-from-williams%2F','support+for++school+vouchers')" target="_blank"support for school vouchers/a, one person said close to the investors said. It’s unlikely the donors will make a big splash for GOP nominee Tom Corbett, either./p
pThe three gave millions of dollars to Williams, most of it funneled through a new school choice political action committee, in the hopes that an urban Democrat outside his party’s political mold on school choice could elevate the issue’s public profile./p
p“They are gun-shy now because they did not enjoy the scrutiny that came their way after their donations became public,” one person familiar with their plans said. “In principle, they are neither Democratic nor Republican. … While Onorato’s plan is a step in the right direction, it does not go far enough.”/p
pDespite the lack of any big influx of cash from them, political consultant Larry Ceisler said neither candidate is in dire need heading into the last two months of campaigning./p
p“I know that Onorato met with the donors from Susquehanna, but it does not surprise me that they are not going to contribute to him,” Ceisler said. “They had a long-term relationship with Williams.”/p
pemThis article was a href="http://www.metro.us/us/article/2010/08/20/04/1607-82/index.xml" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.metro.us']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.metro.us%2Fus%2Farticle%2F2010%2F08%2F20%2F04%2F1607-82%2Findex.xml','originally+published+in+Metro+Philadelphia')" target="_blank">originally published in Metro Philadelphia, a pa2010.com partner.

Correction: This article originally carried an incorrect byline. It was written by Laura Goldman, not Rikard Larma.

People, party and policy

Two pieces on pa2010.com warrant comment. The first is my colleague Tony Heyl’s post on

Political cowardice vs. what really matters

Congressman Jason Altmire (D-4) says he’s pFirst, I’d like to applaud Congressman Altmire for having his priorities so straight that he took the time to gin up fear of “the other” in order to convince a scared electorate that they should vote for him because he disapproved of something that made them uncomfortable. Bravo Congressman, you took the easy path./p
pI am not so much disappointed in Altmire, and others like Pat Toomey, for spending time criticizing construction of a Muslim community center in New York City as I am in what they are not focusing on currently./p
pHalf-a-world away, Pakistan is facing a natural disaster that is being called worse than the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. According to the United Nations, over 14 million people in Pakistan have been affected by the monsoon and subsequent flooding. Fourteen million people. Not 14 million Muslims, 14 million terrorists, 14 million scary bad guys, but 14 million empeople./em/p
pThe tragedy in Pakistan may be the most important issue in the world right now. It brings to light the problems of global climate change and the possibilities of more severe weather patterns as well as highlights the need for stability and safety in a highly volatile region. This is also a chance for America to show why we are and can be that shining example for the world./p
pSo far, I have not seen a public statement from Congressman Altmire or former Congressman Toomey, or most any other elected official, about the need to help the 14 million people suffering as a result of this disaster. However, they have had time to scare people about a community center in New York./p
pPersonally, I don’t know what is worse, the fact that we accept so little from our elected officials or that expect so little./p
pThe disappointing aspect of this is that Congressman Altmire, with the credibility and authority of a United States Congressman, has power to draw much needed attention to this tragedy. Americans are a giving people and our government, whether run by a Democrat or Republican, is always a leader in driving needed aid after disasters, as President Obama is helping to do now and President Bush did after the tsunami five and a half years ago. In America, there is no shortage of good-hearted people./p
pHowever, instead of appealing to our best nature, people like Congressman Altmire, who should know better, devote their time to stirring up fears to get votes. Comments from a congressman and a passionate outreach either through his Web site or to his email list might not win him many votes, but it might do something more important—save lives./p
pThese days, with cynicism running rampant, we expect very little from our elected officials, and far too often, they live up to those low expectations./p
pUnfortunately, we accept it./p
pOn a final note, if you want to contribute to something that is actually meaningful, a href="http://www.redcross.org/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.redcross.org']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcross.org%2F','please+visit+the+Red+Cross')" target="_blank">please visit the Red Cross and help the 14 million people affected by this disaster.

That, and not fear mongering, is the American thing to do.

THE PRESS ROOM: Little ink spilled over the 17th

An occasional series of articles exploring how political campaigns are playing out in the media—in print, on the air, online and behind the scenes.

Less than three months before Election Day, most competitive House races are by now garnering the typical smattering of local press coverage: campaign appearances, the back-and-forth of attacks and where the candidates stand on issues of the day.

But in central Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District, such coverage has been sparse. Of…

Pols chime in on Iraq

With Thursday marking the official withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, Pennsylvania’s political candidates were issuing the expected stream of statements.

“I think people will look back at this war as an unnecessary one,” Democrat Joe Sestak, the former Navy Admiral and current Senate candidate, said on MSNBC. “One that we unfortunately harmed our national security fabric as we have lost our focus where the real challenge was and that was in Afghanistan where we…

Onorato’s Tea Party faker

We always knew that Dan Onorato was willing to do whatever it takes to try to overcome Tom Corbett’s commanding lead in the race for governor, but even we were surprised that he would sink this low.

Two weeks ago, four members of the Tea Party movement filed a motion against John Krupa, who had filed nomination papers to run as the supposed candidate of the Tea Party.

But Krupa had one very big problem—he…