Terry Madonna, pollster and director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College, writes at Real Clear Politics that Pat Toomey and Tom Corbett are beneficiaries of voter discontent with the status quo.

Madonna also goes on record as one of the first — if not the first — to suggest that, all things being equal on Election Day, Pennsylvanians could witness a landslide.

… voters appear to consider neither Corbett nor Toomey to be wackos. If voters were to describe the GOP candidates this year, the word they would probably use is not wackos, but winners.
Certainly the polls thus far support that conclusion. The latest authoritative Real Clear Politics averages have Corbett up some 12 points over his Democrat opponent and Toomey up 9 points. These are impressive leads in a state where a 10-point win is considered a landslide. …
But Toomey’s ascendancy owes more to the zeitgeist of the times, the temper of the country, and growing voter alienation from the president and his party. Conservative policies as well as conservative politicians are more in favor this year than at any time since 1994. [emphasis added]

This is particularly good news for congressional challengers across the commonwealth who will be counting on that rising tide of their higher profile counterparts to lift their own electoral ships.