Torsella endorses Specter

Democrat Joe Torsella, who briefly hoped to challenge Arlen Specter in next year’s general election, has endorsed the five-term senator, according to a statement released by the Specter campaign today.

Torsella, a former president and CEO of the National Constitution Center,

June 30, 2009 at 11:48 am | Comments (5)

Torsella looks out for his former staffers

Ain’t Joe Torsella a nice guy? Still busy heading up the state’s board of education and barely a month removed from his

June 17, 2009 at 3:49 pm | Comments (0)

There’s a new Philly Chamber of Commerce head… and it’s not Joe Torsella

In the days leading up to Democrat Joe Torsella’s withdrawal from the Senate race, his campaign insistently

June 1, 2009 at 11:01 am | Comments (1)

Next job for Torsella: Giving back the money

It took Democrat Joe Torsella six weeks to raise over $600,000 for his Senate campaign.

Giving the money back should prove easier, if not as satisfying.

Now that he is full story

May 18, 2009 at 5:45 am | Comments (0)

THE PRESS ROOM: Leak caught Torsella camp off guard

An occasional series of articles exploring how political campaigns are playing out in the media.

Joe Torsella’s campaign had everything planned to a tee. The Democratic Senate candidate would release a pBut then, as so often happens in politics, the news leaked./p
pCiting…

May 18, 2009 at 5:35 am | Comments (1)

Torsella’s statement: Video and transcript

Democrat Joe Torsella released a video to his supporters Thursday night explaining his

May 15, 2009 at 10:06 am | Comments (1)

Torsella to bow out of Senate race

Democrat Joe Torsella is calling off his bid for the Senate, a campaign source confirmed Thursday evening.

In a video to be released to supporters soon, a transcript of which was provided by someone inside the campaign, Torsella said that he was “initially reluctant to quit something that so many people had thrown themselves into, heart and soul.

“But now that the dust has settled,” Torsella said, “it’s clear to me that the kind of…

May 14, 2009 at 5:49 pm | Comments (12)

Focused on Senate, Torsella camp waves off Chamber of Commerce rumor

Ever since Senator Arlen Specter defected to the Democrats last week, rumors have been swirling that Democratic power-brokers would try and get Joe Torsella to exit the race by offering him the helm of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce as some kind of consolation prize.

But Torsella’s campaign says he’s only interested in running for U.S. Senate, and that no one has approached him about the job over the last week anyway.

“No one…

May 7, 2009 at 11:47 am | Comments (2)

Specter’s seniority loss opens up an attack line

Now that Senator Arlen Specter has

May 7, 2009 at 11:33 am | Comments (1)

From the grassroots up, calls for a competitive Dem primary threaten to boil over

The dissension among party rank-and-file and liberal activists began almost immediately: Why, people wondered last week, was the Democratic Party settling for a longtime Republican when it could surely do better? That sentiment has only spread in the time since Senator Arlen Specter defected to the Democrats last week.

Now, grassroots demands for a competitive Senate primary are growing louder, and they threaten to embroil Gov. Ed Rendell and the leadership in an intra-party dispute…

May 6, 2009 at 8:50 am | Comments (10)