Top Democratic Midterm surrogate, Bill Clinton, in PA again

pClinton will headline a get out the vote rally Thursday afternoon at Northampton Community College’s Spartan Center. Less than a week before the election, Clinton will try to motivate voters to come out and support Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan (D) who is challenging three term incumbent Charlie Dent to represent the 15supth/sup Congressional District and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato who is running for governor against Attorney General Tom Corbett./p
pTraditionally campaign volunteers spend the weekend before the election phonebanking and canvassing for candidates in a last minute effort rally support for their candidates./p
pThe Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee (DCCC) is committed to Callahan’s race. The DCCC has listed Callahan as one of its 2010 a href="http://www.dccc.org/page/content/redtoblue" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.dccc.org']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dccc.org%2Fpage%2Fcontent%2Fredtoblue','Red+to+Blue')" target="_blank"Red to Blue/a candidates, a list of 29 challengers receiving support for surpassing fundraising goals./p
pDespite recent Democratic gains in Pennsylvania and nationwide, both Callahan and Onorato have significant ground to make up by Election Day. A a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_PA_1020.pdf" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.publicpolicypolling.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.publicpolicypolling.com%2Fpdf%2FPPP_Release_PA_1020.pdf','PPP+poll')" target="_blank">PPP poll released Oct. 20 shows Onorato down two points to Corbett and that the so-called “enthusiasm gap” has narrowed to five points, meaning Democrats are more likely to come out to vote.

The polling for Callahan, on the other hand, is all over the place. Muhlenberg College

October 25, 2010 at 2:10 pm | Comments (3)

Rendell says Dems were ‘too scared’ for tax fight

Ever-critical of his party’s political moxie, Gov. Ed Rendell had more harsh words for Democrats this weekend, saying party leaders were “too scared” to take up a fight over letting Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy expire.

Democrats recently abandoned efforts to address the matter before the midterm elections, despite widespread popular support for letting tax cuts for top earners lapse while extending them for the middle class.

“I think we were too scared,” Rendell…

October 3, 2010 at 2:08 pm | Comments (6)

Pa. Dems cry FCC foul on Gerlach ad

Pennsylvania Democrats want a Berks County television station to begin charging Republican Jim Gerlach’s campaign more money for airtime, after Gerlach’s campaign omitted a visual disclaimer that is typically required for campaigns to receive cheaper advertising rates.

At issue is

September 27, 2010 at 3:45 pm | Comments (11)

LEFTOVERS: Revisiting Toomey’s attack, endorsements, a live TV debate

A day after Republican Senate candidate

September 14, 2010 at 8:51 pm | Comments (0)

LEFTOVERS: Obama to Philly, ‘extremism’ in the Senate race, debates in the 6th

Those of us who live in Philadelphia could be forgiven for thinking that President Obama is starting to hold the City of Brotherly Love in particularly high esteem.

Obama has made more than a couple trips to Philly recently, and he’s coming again next month. In an announcement that slipped through the proverbial cracks at pa2010.com Central last week, it looks like Obama will headline a Democratic National Committee rally Oct. 10. That’s one of…

September 13, 2010 at 8:47 pm | Comments (2)

Kaine makes the argument; Rendell says ‘wackos’ run GOP

PHILADELPHIA—Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine laid down his party’s political argument for the midterm elections Wednesday, insisting that Democrats had rescued an economy brought to the brink by Republican policies and that giving the GOP control of government again would lead the country even further back from where it was when President Obama took office.

Joined by Gov. Ed Rendell and other party leaders and activists at the University of Pennsylvania here, Kaine used…

September 8, 2010 at 3:09 pm | Comments (7)

LEFTOVERS: Sestak on Israel, fact-checking Dahlkemper, Kaine on Pa.

Democrat Joe Sestak has often been criticized by conservatives for signing onto a letter to President Obama, in which pEven some Democrats in the Jewish community told him he made a mistake and Sestak, we’re told, privately conceded he should have drafted his own, more carefully…

September 3, 2010 at 4:32 pm | Comments (14)

Kaine to deliver Dems’ fall message in Philly

Democratic National Committee chairman will look to frame the looming midterm elections on his party’s terms in Philadelphia next week, delivering what’s being billed as a major speech at the University of Pennsylvania.

A party official told pa2010.com that Kaine will give the speech Wednesday at Houston Hall. Gov. Ed Rendell will be in attendance.

“He’ll make the sharpest contrast that he has made to date on the direction the country would go if Republicans…

September 2, 2010 at 7:20 am | Comments (0)

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…

August 23, 2010 at 11:22 pm | Comments (13)

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

August 23, 2010 at 11:02 am | Comments (15)