THE PRESS ROOM: A radio host won’t let Marino escape DeNaples

An occasional series of articles exploring how political campaigns are playing out in the media—in print, on the air, online and behind the scenes.

A politician doesn’t want to be on Steve Corbett’s bad side. The talk radio host is prominent in northeast Pennsylvania, enjoys a large following and can drive political narratives with a microphone. But Corbett’s bad side is exactly where Republican Tom Marino has found himself, in just the latest obstacle for…

September 8, 2010 at 10:18 am | Comments (0)

THE PRESS ROOM: Little ink spilled over the 17th

An occasional series of articles exploring how political campaigns are playing out in the media—in print, on the air, online and behind the scenes.

Less than three months before Election Day, most competitive House races are by now garnering the typical smattering of local press coverage: campaign appearances, the back-and-forth of attacks and where the candidates stand on issues of the day.

But in central Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District, such coverage has been sparse. Of…

August 20, 2010 at 9:30 am | Comments (2)

THE PRESS ROOM: Local blogs spring up to slam candidates

An occasional series of articles exploring how political campaigns are playing out in the media—in print, on the air, online and behind the scenes.

Think pa2010.com is catering to a narrow niche? Think again.

A plethora of new Web sites are sprouting up in the blogosphere, mostly as vehicles to bash candidates loathed by their authors, but sometimes just to cover a particular race from a certain ideological view. Whether these blogs will play any…

February 15, 2010 at 12:00 pm | Comments (10)

THE PRESS ROOM: Sestak’s latest PR tease, anonymous quote included, is quickly deflated

An occasional series of articles exploring how political campaigns are playing out in the media—in print, on the air, online and behind the scenes.

Even by the standards of Joe Sestak’s recent media-teasing, what the campaign tried to pull off Wednesday showed chutzpah. Late in the afternoon, the campaign e-mailed reporters boasting of a “special announcement” in which a “former Democratic challenger” would endorse the Senate hopeful.

“One of the few Democratic candidates…

October 14, 2009 at 9:47 pm | Comments (4)

THE PRESS ROOM: Specter and Sestak take their sniping to the Inky

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

Whoever said newspapers have lost their place in contemporary political discourse?

Not Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak. The two Senate opponents have been taking shots at each other on the newspaper’s letters page over whether or not Specter really does like Amtrak.

p“Sestak is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts,” Specter wrote last week. “I have consistently and successfully advocated for increased funding for Amtrak, particularly in my capacity as a senior member of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on transportation, and have been recognized for these efforts by the National Association of Railroad Passengers.”/p
pa href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090928_Letters__Specter_trying_to_spin_his_position_on_Amtrak.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Finquirer%2Fopinion%2F20090928_Letters__Specter_trying_to_spin_his_position_on_Amtrak.html','In+a+letter+today')" target="_blank">In a letter today, Sestak says Specter’s a Johnny-come-lately to the issue.

“The point I made was that…

September 28, 2009 at 7:41 am | Comments (9)

THE PRESS ROOM: The former Senate hopeful opts to control the conversation instead

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

Chris Matthews had to think he made the right decision Tuesday evening. It wasn’t so long ago—before he signed a new contract with MSNBC, before the Specter party-switch, before the Sestak challenge—that Matthews was thinking of running for the Pennsylvania Senate seat himself. But he always maintained that he loved his job, that he didn’t want to give up the…

August 4, 2009 at 7:22 pm | Comments (7)

THE PRESS ROOM: Sestak’s media strategy goes local

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

Pennsylvania, meet Joe Sestak.

Really, you don’t have much of a choice. If you live in any of the Keystone State’s 67 counties and even glance at a local newspaper, the Delaware County Congressman’s name and face are bound to catch your eye. If they haven’t already.

That’s because for the last three weeks, Sestak has been crisscrossing the state…

July 20, 2009 at 9:49 am | Comments (6)

THE PRESS ROOM: Another PR coup for Sestak

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

It was a familiar scene: Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7) gracing the airwaves, talking about his military background, criticizing Senator Arlen Specter and lamenting that party leaders had chosen to crown him the Democratic standard-bearer.

In fact, Sestak’s evening media blitz on Wednesday was eerily similar to the string of television appearances he made…

May 28, 2009 at 10:59 am | Comments (0)

THE PRESS ROOM: Kortz gets some CQ love

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

It’s no secret that in state Representative Bill Kortz’s insurgent campaign for Senate, the biggest challenge is pKortz, the Allegheny County Democrat who has made clear he won’t be stepping aside for Senator Arlen Specter, got his first national press victory today, in the form of a fawning profile in emCongressional Quarterly/em./p
pHeadlined “a href="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003125077" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.cqpolitics.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cqpolitics.com%2Fwmspage.cfm%3FdocID%3Dnews-000003125077','Meet+the+Democrat+who+Won%22t+Give+Specter+a+Clear+Field')" target="_blank"Meet the Democrat who Won’t Give Specter a Clear Field/a,” the piece recaps Kortz’ working-class background and his identity as a less conventional politician./p
p“I come from the working class,” Kortz says in the piece. “and the working class is what’s getting hammered right now, and it didn’t have to be. And that’s why I’m running—that’s the No. 1 reason.”/p
pWhether other national publications will give Kortz a call remains to be seen. For now, score one for the “unpolitician.”/p
pemPrevious articles in The Press Room:/emspanbr /
/span/p
pspanem /ema href="http://www.pa2010.com/2009/05/the-press-room-leak-caught-torsella-camp-off-guard/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2009%2F05%2Fthe-press-room-leak-caught-torsella-camp-off-guard%2F','Leak+caught+Torsella+camp+off+guard')" target="_blank">Leak caught Torsella camp off guard

May 26, 2009 at 9:59 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)