Senate
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The NRSC is injecting itself into Pat Toomey’s race with less than twenty days remaining before Election Day. They hit the air with their first ad this week, and will be pumping nearly $3.5 million into the race to help Toomey maintain his lead, which Rasmussen has at 10 points, according to yesterdays’ poll.
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In the “In Case You Missed It” files, Joe Sestak was in Scranton earlier this week, scaring the elderly over Pat Toomey’s plan to “personalize” Social Security — optionally — for young workers paying into the system today. “If it were privatized, [Sestak] said, 20 million seniors would be moved into poverty, taking the word ‘security’ out of the term ‘Social Security.’” Of course, Toomey has never advocated privatizing Social Security for the elderly. But with barely two weeks to go before Nov. 2, why not fib, right?
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The Associated Press takes a look at the recent sparring over TV ads in the senate race, particularly the faux controversy over the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Gubernatorial
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New ads are hitting the air this weekend, two from Dan Onorato and one from Tom Corbett. BusinessWeek has a quick run-down on the Onorato spots, and Battle ‘10 will have all three ads up later today.
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WHYY takes a look at the surrogates campaigning on behalf of Tom Corbett and Dan Onorato. Chris Christie came to the commonwealth for Corbett on Monday, and President Obama was here Sunday.
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Chris Freind, Pennsylvania’s investigative reporter, takes a break to write for Newsmax on the subject of Chris Christie running for president. In a nation plagued by a vacuum of political fortitude and talent, “Christie has been so successful that a mere 10 months after he was sworn in, he has rocketed to the short list of presidential contenders.” Christie lent his star power to Tom Corbett this week, and will probably continue to campaign for him.
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Dan Onorato celebrated his Italian roots at a festival/gathering earlier this week.
Congressional
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PA-11 — In troubling news for Lou Barletta’s third-try bid for the northeastern congressional seat, opponent and forever-incumbent Paul Kanjorski has announced his best fundraising quarter “ever”. The campaign has more than a half million in cash on hand for the final 18-day stretch. Barletta’s camp has said they’re certain they’ve topped Kanjorski’s numbers, but haven’t released anything yet.
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PA-10/11 — NRO’s Kathryn Lopez takes a look at a controversy over three Catholic hospitals being put up for sale. The owners said Obamacare “absolutely” played a role in their decision to sell, but then backpedaled. Kathryn clarifies and distills.
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PA-7 — Democrat Bryan Lentz has just lost the support of the Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters, which has put out an announcement retracting its earlier endorsement. Battle ‘10 will have more on this today.
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PA-3 — As reported last night, in the wake of the DCCC pulling out of Kathy Dahlkemper’s re-election effort due to her fading numbers, AFSCME has jumped in to help with another $350,000.