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)

Labor targets Toomey, Pa. House races in mail campaign

A huge direct-mail campaign by the umbrella labor group AFL-CIO has Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey in its crosshairs, along with four GOP challengers in Pennsylvania congressional races.

The campaign, …

September 13, 2010 at 10:09 am | Comments (3)

New Sestak ad highlights Navy service

The latest TV ad from Democratic candidate Joe Sestak focuses on the military career of the man whose campaign often makes a point of referring to him as “Admiral.”

The new 30-second spot, his campaign’s second of the general election cycle, says Sestak, a former Navy Admiral, has “lived his life” by the values of “duty” and “service.” It credits him with “standing up to the bosses in both parties.”

See the ad below. It …

September 10, 2010 at 11:47 am | Comments (24)

Rendell exempts Corbett, Toomey from ‘wackos’ comment

Gov. Ed Rendell said this week that the GOP is being taken over by “wackos” and “fruit loops.” But he says he wasn’t talking about Pennsylvania’s statewide candidates.

A day after p“There are clearly elements of the Republican Party that are totally wacked out,” a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/09/rendell_corbett_toomey_are_not.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pennlive.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pennlive.com%2Fmidstate%2Findex.ssf%2F2010%2F09%2Frendell_corbett_toomey_are_not.html','Rendell+told+The+Patriot-News')" target="_blank">Rendell told The Patriot-News.  “By no means are all Republican candidates ‘wacked out’ or ‘fruit loops.’”

He called Toomey a “reasonable” person with whom he disagrees, and said that Corbett “hasn’t done enough wacko things to be classified as wacko.”

September 10, 2010 at 9:00 am | Comments (7)

Toomey a top recipient of Wall Street cash

For months, Democrats have tried to paint Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey as Wall Street’s guy. If you measure that just by campaign cash, they’ve got a point.

New data from the Center for Responsive Politics indicates that Toomey was among one of the top recipients of contributions from Wall Street and financial industry interests between February and June. Of the 10 candidates in both parties who received the most from the financial sector, only …

September 10, 2010 at 7:00 am | Comments (14)

LEFTOVERS: McDonnell for Corbett, Cook on Carney, campaign hit sites

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett is getting some help from a fellow prosecutor.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell headlined a fundraiser for Corbett Thursday night outside Pittsburgh, and was set to raise more cash for Corbett during a Republican Governors Association event Friday morning in the city. McDonnell was a state attorney general himself before being elected governor last year.

The Washington Post, which pMeanwhile, political forecaster Charlie Cook says Congressman Chris Carney (D-10) could be in more trouble than we think. Even though his Republican opponent Tom Marino hasn’t raised much money, the political climate in northeast Pennsylvania could be perilous for Carney, and the emCook Political Report/em has changed its forecast on the race from leans Democratic to a toss-up./p
p“While Republican polling shows Carney down anywhere from a handful of points to double digits,” the folks at Cook wrote, “Carney hasn’t released any of his own polling, suggesting his health care vote took a serious toll in this very Republican district.”/p
pAnd with just weeks remaining before Election Day, we’re starting to see more and more so-called hit sites from campaigns targeting their opponents. The latest ones come from Republicans Pat Toomey and Dave Argall./p
pToomey’s Senate campaign this week unveiled a href="http://www.joesaystax.com/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.joesaystax.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joesaystax.com%2F','Joe+Says+Tax')" target="_blank"emJoe Says Tax/em/a, which, naturally, paints Democrat Joe Sestak as a spend-aholic. And Argall’s campaign rolled out a href="http://www.sendtimpacking.com/SendTimPacking.com/SendTimPacking.com_-_Tim_Holden__Going_on_Vacation_on_Our_Dime.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.sendtimpacking.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sendtimpacking.com%2FSendTimPacking.com%2FSendTimPacking.com_-_Tim_Holden__Going_on_Vacation_on_Our_Dime.html','SendTimPacking.com')" target="_blank">SendTimPacking.com, which argues that it’s time for Congressman Tim Holden …

September 9, 2010 at 10:35 pm | Comments (7)

Dorgan: Sestak ‘exactly the opposite’ of Toomey

Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak campaigned Thursday with one of the country’s leading opponents of financial deregulation, as he continued to make the argument that Republican rival Pat Toomey personifies the policies that helped lead to the financial crisis.

Sestak was joined in Philadelphia by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND). Dorgan, who is not seeking reelection, warned against the 1999 legislative push to repeal financial restrictions first enacted during the Great Depression. That Glass-Stegall legislation passed …

September 9, 2010 at 9:57 pm | Comments (3)

Ridge stumps for Toomey

The Republican who almost ran for Senate himself was out on the campaign trail Thursday for GOP nominee Pat Toomey.

Former Gov. Tom Ridge formally endorsed Toomey during a morning appearance in State College. In a statement later, he called Toomey “an honest, principled leader who is unafraid to stand up for what’s right.”

After Senator Arlen Specter switched parties last year, GOP leaders tried to coax Ridge into the race. In announcing that he …

September 9, 2010 at 10:40 am | Comments (13)

Specter says Toomey vs. Sestak will be a ‘dogfight’

The man who lost his Senate seat in a primary says the race to succeed him will be a brutal one.

Senator Arlen Specter this week weighed in on the contest between Democrat Joe Sestak and Republican Pat Toomey, in some of his first public comments about the race since his loss to Sestak in the May primary.

“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Specter …

September 9, 2010 at 8:11 am | Comments (7)

LEFTOVERS: Toomey’s earmarks, Sestak on stimulating polls, C-SPAN on the 7th

Republican Pat Toomey’s Senate campaign has been working around the clock to push the narrative that Democrat Joe Sestak is a hypocrite on the subject of earmarks. Those efforts culminated with pBut the Toomey people learned this week that the story they push can also bite back./p
pemThe Inquirer/em a href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20100908_Toomey_got_millions_in_earmarks_before_railing_against_them.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Finquirer%2Flocal%2Fpa%2F20100908_Toomey_got_millions_in_earmarks_before_railing_against_them.html','Check+out+Fitzgerald%22s+story+here.')" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Finquirer%2Flocal%2Fpa%2F20100908_Toomey_got_millions_in_earmarks_before_railing_against_them.html','reported')" target="_blank">reported Wednesday morning that “got millions in earmarks before railing against them.” Friend-of-the-site Thomas Fitzgerald, who’s done an excellent job staying on top of this story, noted that the former congressman “won at least $9 million in earmarks, including $3 million for a private …

September 8, 2010 at 4:21 pm | Comments (3)