Putting The Focus On The "Other Bum"

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By Big Tent Democrat, Section
Posted on Fri Aug 20, 2010 at 12:03:00 PM EST

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Joe Sestak is not the ideal candidate for the Dems in the Pennsylvania Senate race (I still believe Specter had the better shot), and Sestak is trailing, but his political team is doing a heck of a job I think. Chris Bowers trots out the new Sestak line on his GOP opponent Pat Toomey:

Think Progress makes a useful catch about Social Security, and all Democrats running for federal office should take notice. Even Pat Toomey, who ran the Club for Growth, is too afraid to say in public that he wants to turn over Social Security to Wall Street[.]

There is blood in the water on Social Security privatizing for Republicans. It would be wise for Pat Toomey’s opponent, Admiral Joe Sestak, to sniff it out. It would be just as smart for every Democrat in the country running for federal office to do the same. Publicly oppose all cuts, and start attacking Republicans for wanting to hand over Social Security to Wall Street. Doing so could really help Democratic candidates in an otherwise difficult electoral environment, not to mention possibly save Social Security itself.

(Emphasis supplied.) I especially like the Admiral Sestak touch. The only thing Chris missed was the Sestak's campaign usage for Toomey - they call him Congressman Toomey (Toomey is a former congressman.) Again, Sestak is probably going to lose, but not because his political shop is not doing its job.

Speaking for me only

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Sestak (none / 0) (#1)
by Capt Howdy on Fri Aug 20, 2010 at 11:16:04 AM EST

is a pretty good finisher. didnt he trail for most of the primary? and then grab the jugular and not let go?

He trailed initially (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by Makarov on Fri Aug 20, 2010 at 01:45:14 PM EST

then closed the gap, then trailed again, and closed the gap again. There were fairly long periods (a month or more) without polls taken during the race, so whether he 'surged' a lot at any point is simply not known.

What I know, from living in PA, is that about 6 weeks before the election, Sestak completely deluged the TV airwaves - broadcast and local cable - with ads. During local news, you'd see a Sestak ad almost every commercial break.

His campaign hasn't run one ad in my area since the primary. The DSCC has one ad running now - the Toomey=Wall Street ad that BTD posted about a week or so ago. Toomey and his supporters have been running ads non-stop since the primary.

My bet is Sestak is waiting until late September before beginning his ad blitz. It's not a bad strategy.

What's surprising to me is that Sestak doesn't seem to be holding events during the Congressional break. At least, his own campaign web site isn't promoting them:
http://joesestak.com/events

He was very busy over the July 4 weekend, and held only 2 since. I don't know what that means. Did he spend too much money during the primaries? Even if his campaign in is debt, hopping in a car and driving around to local fairs doesn't cost much.

Will Sestak come out and commit to not cutting Social Security? I'm not so sure. I didn't vote in favor of him in the primary because he held two positions I couldn't reconcile:

He supports the current wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and apparently the secret wars we are waging elsewhere.
He said if the US had a Canadian style Health Care System, his young daughter would have died from her bout with cancer. He even opposes the Kucinich amendment, which would give states the ability to experiment with their own single payer systems.

If Sestak doesn't explicitly state he will oppose all cuts (including raising the retirement age) to Social Security, there is no way I'll vote for him. Even if he does, it will take a lot more given #1 and #2.


: Does that mean you'll vote for Toomey? (none / 0) (#5)
by Chuck0 on Mon Aug 23, 2010 at 01:54:56 PM EST

If so, why don't you go ahead and put the gun to your head now and pull the trigger. It's pretty much the same thing.

His media shop is the best (none / 0) (#2)
by andgarden on Fri Aug 20, 2010 at 11:19:01 AM EST

Neil Oxman's signature is to hold back the TV money until the end.


As a PA democrat (none / 0) (#4)
by Chuck0 on Mon Aug 23, 2010 at 01:53:18 PM EST

I couldn't disagree with you more about Specter. He was tired, worn out, and ran a despicable campaign against Sestak. Specter's own campaign ads is what turned me to vote for Sesek.

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