A new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll in Pennsylvania finds Sen. Bob Casey (D) crushing challenger Lou Barletta (R), 53% to 35%.
In the governor’s race, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) leads challenger Scott Wagner (R) by a similar margin, 55% to 36%.
In the generic congressional ballot, Democrats lead Republicans in the state by double digits, 50% to 39%.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s approval rate in the state is a dismal 39% to 55%.
The White House refused to invite Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) to the signing ceremony for a bill he sponsored, the Harrisburg Patriot-News reports.
“At least two people close to the matter confirmed that the White House invited all the Republican and Democratic lawmakers who worked on the bill — except for Casey.”
A new Franklin & Marshall poll in Pennsylvania finds Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) leading challenger Lou Barletta (R) by a stunning 17 points, 44% to 27%, with 28% still undecided.
In the gubernatorial race, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) leads challenger Scott Wagner, 48% to 29%.
“What the hell is there not to like?”
— Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Lou Barletta (R-PA), quoted by National Journal, on the Trump administration.
“Senior Republicans are sounding the alarm about Rep. Lou Barletta’s (R-PA) struggling Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, fretting that his lackadaisical, disorganized effort will hand a third term to incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), the Washington Examiner reports.
“Barletta has been a disappointing fundraiser and been too slow to ramp up a capable statewide campaign operation, his critics charge.”
Said one GOP strategist: “The sense is, nobody knows what the fuck he’s doing. He’s not really working it hard. It’s a sad thing, because people like Lou.”
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) “again refused to say whether he would vote for Donald Trump, making him the only vulnerable Republican senator to keep his constituents in the dark on where he stands on the issue,” NBC News reports.
Said Toomey: “I don’t think my constituents care that much how one person is going to vote.”
Hillary Clinton ripped Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) in a speech here in Pennsylvania, trying to link him to Donald Trump and a long list of Trump’s past incendiary statements, Politico reports.
Said Clinton: “He still refuses to stand up to Donald Trump. Now a lot of Republicans have. They have had the grit and the guts to stand up and say he does not represent me.”
She continued: “But Pat Toomey heard Donald attack a grieving Gold Star family who lost their son in the Iraq war. He heard Donald call Mexican immigrants rapists. He heard him say terrible things about women. He heard him spread the lie that our first black president wasn’t really born in America. Now how much more does Pat Toomey need to hear? If he doesn’t have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump after all this, then can you be sure he’ll stand up for you when it counts?”
Ruby Cramer: “It was the first time Clinton, who has been courting support from Republicans in the race against Donald Trump, has devoted a major part of her stump speech to a down-ballot GOP candidate.”
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) still won’t say whom he’ll support for president, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“Toomey’s dilemma, with just four weeks to go until Election Day, reflects the way Trump has engulfed the political landscape and left Republicans flailing in his wake as his poll numbers plunge.”
Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty (D) “found herself explaining an often-repeated line from the campaign trail after questions were raised about whether she was in fact the first in her family to go to a four-year college,” the Allentown Morning Call reports.
“She has described herself during the campaign both as the first in her family to go to college, and as the first in her family to go to a four-year college.”
But BuzzFeed discovered her older brother, John P. McGinty, earned a bachelor’s degree, and later a master’s degree.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Sen. Pat Toomey (R) beating Joe Sestak (D) in a U.S. Senate match up, 48% to 33%, and topping Katie McGinty (D), 48% to 32%.
Katie McGinty (D) will resign her position as chief of staff to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) in preparation to run for the U.S. Senate, National Journal reports.
“McGinty’s entrance would be a major victory for Democrats in Washington, who have scoured Pennsylvania looking for a top-tier candidate in what should be a politically-crucial Senate battleground in 2016. Party leaders are wary about the only Democrat in the race, former Rep. Joe Sestak, concerned that his unwillingness to listen to strategic advice could cost them a winnable race against the well-entrenched Toomey.”
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski (D) suspended his campaign for the U.S. Senate, four days after FBI agents executed search warrants at Allentown City Hall, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
A new Franklin & Marshall poll in Pennsylvania finds Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) leads challenger Joe Sestak (D) by just four points, 35% to 31% — within the poll’s margin of error — though 34% of voters remain undecided.
A new Robert Morris University poll in Pennsylvania shows Joe Sestak (D) leading Sen. Pat Toomey (R), 34% to 28%, but with an even larger percentage of undecided voters.
Said pollster Philip Harold: “People are just disengaged. It’s like asking someone what they’re going to have for breakfast 100 days from now.”
Despite his weak approval rating, a new Public Policy Polling survey finds Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) still leads half a dozen potential Democratic rivals by anywhere from 4 to 11 points.
The Democrat who comes closest to Toomey is 2010 candidate Joe Sestak (D), who trails by 4 points at 42% to 38%.
Josh Shapiro (D) has told national Democratic Party leaders that he will not run for the nomination to challenge Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) next year, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“Senior Democrats had been encouraging Shapiro to jump into the primary against Joe Sestak, a retired Navy rear admiral and former Delaware County congressman who lost a close race to Toomey in 2010 but who also has a strained relationship with members of the party establishment.”
A new Harper Polling survey in Pennsylvania finds Sen. Pat Toomey (R) with large leads over three possible Democratic challengers.
Toomey leads Ed Pawlowski (D), 54% to 30%, tops Jos Sestak (D), 53% to 32%, and beats Josh Shapiro (D), 55% to 27%.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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