Torsella: Nothing changes

Even though Arlen Specter is now his key Democratic opponent, Joe Torsella says his run for Senate is on as planned.

“Nothing about today’s news regarding Senator Specter changes that, or my intention to run for the Democratic nomination to the Senate in 2010—an election that is still a full year away,” Torsella added.

Considering the

April 28, 2009 at 3:10 pm | Comments (2)

A Democratic primary field… reshuffled and then some

The Democratic primary for Senate was looking so simple. Candidates were hesitant to jump in, afraid of facing Senator Arlen Specter in the general election. It was a mostly level playing filed, at least financially.

No more.

Specter’s decision to switch parties are run for reelection as a Democrat has turned the entire political landscape upside down. Nowhere is this more clear than in the Democratic primary field itself.

Joe Torsella, who has been raising…

April 28, 2009 at 1:20 pm | Comments (1)

Big names aided Torsella’s first fundraising haul

Gov. Ed Rendell is on the list. So is Susan Rice, the Ambassador to the United Nations. Ditto Rhonda Cohen, the wife of Comcast executive and political bigwig David Cohen. Big-money names from Philly like Ken Jarin, Arthur Makadon and Peter Buttenweiser all make appearances. Restaurateur Stephen Starr is thrown in for good measure.

All gave money to Democrat Joe Torsella’s nascent Senate campaign.

Torsella has never held elected…

April 27, 2009 at 5:35 am | Comments (5)

The money game: 1Q Senate roundup

Not surprisingly, Senator Arlen Specter takes the cake for best first-quarter fundraising haul among Senate candidates.

pa href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/04/torsella-has-almost-600k-on-hand" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F04%2Ftorsella-has-almost-600k-on-hand','Democrat+Joe+Torsella+raised+about+%24596%2C000%2C+finishing+with+about+%24584%2C000.')" target="_blank"Democrat Joe Torsella raised about $596,000, finishing with about $584,000./a/p
pa href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/04/luksik-campaign-in-the-red" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F04%2Fluksik-campaign-in-the-red','Republican+Peg+Luksik+raised+about+%2410%2C000%2C+finishing+with+about+%243%2C000+on+hand+but+%243%2C500+in+debt.')" target="_blank">Republican Peg Luksik raised about $10,000, finishing with about $3,000 on hand but $3,500 in debt.

Republican Pat Toomey, having just entered the race, has not yet released any fundraisng data.

…

April 24, 2009 at 6:00 am | Comments (0)

Torsella has almost $600K on hand

Democratic Senate candidate Joe Torsella finished March with almost $600,000 in campaign cash, according to new pTorsella’s campaign had previously disclosed a broad outline of his early fundraising efforts, but the full report published online yesterday offered far more detail. Torsella raised more than $596,000 during the period, almost all of which came from individual contributors, not political action committees. One of those donors was Gov. Ed Rendell, who a href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/04/rendell-gave-torsella-500/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F04%2Frendell-gave-torsella-500%2F','gave+Torsella%22s+campaign+%24500')" target="_blank"gave Torsella’s campaign $500/a. He finished the period with almost $584,000 on hand./p
pHe spent about $12,000 during the period, on expenses varying from basic office overhead to payroll and travel costs./p
pa href="http://www.pa2010.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/torsella_april_quarterly.pdf" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F04%2Ftorsella_april_quarterly.pdf','Click+here+to+download+his+full+FEC+report.')" target="_blank">Click here to download his full FEC report.

April 24, 2009 at 5:15 am | Comments (0)

Rendell gave Torsella $500

Gov. Ed Rendell contributed $500 to the Senate campaign of Democrat Joe Torsella last month, according to campaign finance data released Thursday.

For weeks, party insiders had been saying that Torsella, the former National Constitution Center CEO and Rendell ally, would not be seeking the nomination unless he felt he was doing so with Rendell’s support. Asked in a recent interview with pa2010.com whether or not he had the Governor’s backing, Torsella declined to answer,…

April 23, 2009 at 8:06 pm | Comments (2)

Kortz: ‘Just an ordinary steel worker’

In his surprise campaign for U.S. Senate, state Representative Bill Kortz (D-Allegheny) has wasted no time in declaring himself the outsider candidate and seems determined to use his lack of experience in elected office as his biggest qualification.

“I’m just an ordinary steel worker, but I’m running for all the right reasons,” Kortz told pa2010.com a day after he

April 22, 2009 at 11:00 am | Comments (2)

The universal challenge: Fundraising in a recession

PHILADELPHIA—From the most high-profile political favorite to the lowliest underdog, there’s one thing every candidate for office has in common, one reality they all have to confront: They’re asking for money at a terrible time.

As candidates lay the groundwork for the 2010 elections, they are confronted with the harshest economic climate in decades, one that by almost all accounts makes fundraising more difficult. How much more difficult is a matter of some dispute—many of…

April 22, 2009 at 6:30 am | Comments (0)

Remember this?

So I was on the phone this morning with Joe Torsella, Democratic candidate for Senate, and as a big Stephen Colbert fan, I couldn’t help but ask about his hilarious appearance on the show last year, when he was still head of the National Constitution Center. It’s a great bit, during which Colbert continually tries to touch the precious artifacts that Joe continually tells him not to. Naturally, even if you’ve got a great sense…

April 21, 2009 at 3:41 pm | Comments (1)

Torsella building high-profile Senate team

PHILADELPHIA—Already well on his way to building a considerable campaign war chest, Democratic Senate candidate Joe Torsella is also putting together a political team that could prove difficult for other candidates to match.

His campaign has hired The Campaign Group to handle media strategy. The company is run in part by Neil Oxman, a longtime Democratic political consultant who has worked extensively with Gov. Ed Rendell dating back to his days as Philadelphia Mayor, and more recently helped elect Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Finance Director Michelle Singer has held the same job under Rendell. Campaign coordinator Rebecca McNichols was Senator Bob Casey’s political director during his successful election in 2006. Communications director Mark Nevins has worked for the presidential campaigns of U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY). And the campaign expects to announce the hiring on an internal pollster soon.

“I think we are putting together the makings of a terrific team here,” Torsella told pa2010.com in a phone interview today.

Torsella and state Representative Bill Kortz (D-Allegheny) are the only two Democrats who have declared their intention to run. State Representative Josh Shapiro (D-Montgomgery) is also considering the race.

April 21, 2009 at 1:54 pm | Comments (1)