Robo-calls will link Tim Holden to Nancy Pelosi

December 22, 2009 at 12:12 pm

Here come the robo-calls against Blue Dog Democrat Tim Holden.

The former Schuykill County sheriff who has safely held his House seat despite his district being predominantly Republican may be feeling the heat in 2010.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is set to issue robo-calls against Holden starting Tuesday. NRCC spokesman Tory Mazzola said Monday that the robo-calls will link Holden to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who the GOP hopes will raise the ire of already irate…

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Gerlach scoring points on the campaign trail

November 24, 2009 at 12:55 pm

In pAnd while it’s tough to be enamored with a guy who told a story about how dentists and doctors did not charge his mother for medical care after a href="http://www.gerlachforpa.com/about/biography" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.gerlachforpa.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gerlachforpa.com%2Fabout%2Fbiography','Gerlach%22s+father+was+killed+by+a+drunk+driver')"Gerlach’s father was killed by a drunk driver/a and…

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Dems & Gerlach not convinced Corbett has sealed the deal

November 17, 2009 at 8:00 am

Some have argued that pEnd of story on partisan politics, maybe, but not the end of charges of conflict-of-interest and political gain. On Monday, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney…

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Props to Toomey’s press release writer

October 20, 2009 at 10:13 pm

Colorful writing is greatly appreciated in the realm of political press releases. And on that note, we give serious kudos to Pat Pat Toomey’s campaign spokesperson, Nachama Soloveichik, a very smart and on-point political operative.

Soloveichik issues some of the most timely and effective responses to news pertaining to the 2010 Senate race, especially in regards to the two Democratic primary opponents.

This week, Soloveichik conjured images of Joe Sestak and Arlen Specter as radical,…

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Jack Wagner requests that you stop underestimating his desire—and ability—to become governor

October 9, 2009 at 12:10 pm

We stepped into it a little bit by suggesting that

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Sestak’s ‘church’ talk raises eyebrows at Dauphin County Dems dinner

October 7, 2009 at 12:04 pm

We’re considering starting a “Pander Poll” to start tracking the various and sundry ways some of our top-flight pols play to a particular audience.

This week’s prize (so far) goes to Joe Sestak, who was in Harrisburg Monday night for the Dauphin County Democratic Committee’s annual fall dinner. The Senate candidate took his turn at the podium after Harrisburg mayoral candidate Linda Thompson spoke and before Harrisburg’s Mayor Stephen R. Reed made some impromptu remarks.…

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Knox won’t go negative, except against Corbett

October 6, 2009 at 4:48 pm

We got ourselves a money race for the Governor’s Mansion, but don’t expect Philadelphia’s Tom Knox to go negative on Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato.

“We’ll save that for Tom Corbett,” said Knox, who is not exactly a barn-burner stump man, but we have to give him credit for that one-liner.

Knox has the millions to self-fund his gubernatorial run, while Onorato officially checked into the race Tuesday with $5 million or so in his…

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Sestak dancing as fast as he can to gain traction against Specter

October 1, 2009 at 4:36 pm

pHe’s gone for whole-hog support of the public option in health care reform, to asking for a repeal on the marriage protection act, to applauding President Obama’s missile defense policy changes to Iran and Afghanistan./p
pAlong the way, he has toured veterans hospitals and walked the elderly across busy streets./p
pThis is now prime fodder for Arlen Specter, whose campaign Thursday came out blazing against Sestak’s voting attendance record./p
pIn a letter sent to Sestak, Specter challenged his Democratic primary opponent to “go back to work in the House full time, vote consistently and fulfill his core duties as a legislator, or resign so he can cease to be a burden to the taxpayers.”/p
pSpecter charges that Sestak has now missed more than 122 votes this year in the House, or nearly 17 percent of his total votes. Sestak sports the worst attendance record in the state’s Congressional delegation and now has the ninth-worst attendance record in the entire country./p
p“You are asking the voters for a promotion but are failing to perform the most basic duty of any Congressman, which is to vote on the floor of the House of Representatives,” Specter wrote./p
pIs Sestak’s all-hands-on-deck strategy a problem for a challenger trying to a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/us/politics/22dems.html?_r=1" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.nytimes.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2009%2F09%2F22%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2F22dems.html%3F_r%3D1','gain+media+traction')"gain media traction/a in his Democratic primary against the highly-branded Specter?/p
pHis campaign office said Sestak is eager to spotlight key issues and help connect with voters across the state./p
pThat’s not a bad idea, considering that the a href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/10/sestak-still-trails-specter-big-but-steadily-gaining-ground-neck-and-neck-with-toomey/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F10%2Fsestak-still-trails-specter-big-but-steadily-gaining-ground-neck-and-neck-with-toomey%2F','new+poll')" target="_blank">new poll showing that while Sestak trails Specter by about 19 points, Specter’s unfavorability ratings remain steady at about 45 percent.

Specter’s higher negatives seem to indicate that it’s going to be harder for him to change his numbers, while Sestak still has upside. That is further bolstered by the new poll that shows Sestak has closed on Specter since July, when Specter led Sestak 55-23.

Sestak’s camp also liked the idea that Specter’s poll…

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Specter camp should stop attacking on flip-flops

September 23, 2009 at 7:54 pm

Or maybe that should be in the name of Jimmy Buffet.

No matter. When it comes to the issue of flip-flopping, it’s probably time for Arlen Specter’s campaign to find another way of attacking Joe Sestak. If there’s a vulnerability that Specter carries into his first Democratic primary, it’s the fact that he could be equally accused of flip-flopping, too. Card check. Health care.

That’s just for starters.

But for every legitimate cry of foul…

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Santorum for President in 2012 handicaps Specter for Senate in 2010

September 16, 2009 at 4:35 pm

He was run out of the U.S. Senate  by Pennsylvania voters who overwhelmingly supported Bob Casey in the 2006 election, but a little tea-partying bird must be whispering in the ear of

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