The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

VIDEO: Pat Toomey Ad

Posted on | May 20, 2010 | 2 Comments

As Dave Weigel says — hey, he’s got me blogrolled at an MSM site, of course I’m kissing his ass — Toomey spent a year waiting to campaign against Arlen Specter, but he’s not wasting time on regrets:

TV Clear Choice from Pat Toomey on Vimeo.

The first post-primary Rasmussen poll shows Joe Sestak with a slight lead, which was to be expected, and not merely for the huge media attention to the Democratic primary campaign. As I had foreseen ( “Republicans for Arlen Specter,” April 22), the honest liberal Sestak is a better candidate for Democrats than the two-faced “moderate” crapweasel Specter. It’s unfortunate that the Democratic primary voters figured this out, too.

Despite Sestak’s relative greater strength, in comparison to Specter, the fact is that Sestak spent himself broke in the Democratic primary, while Toomey had the pleasant experience of sitting on his money, waiting to unload on the battered winner of the Specter-Sestak slugfest. And it is significant that Toomey launched this TV ad campaign so early. Robert Costa at National Review reports:

“This race is now much more interesting and competitive,” says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “Toomey would have beaten Specter like a drum, given this year’s environment. Sestak can be far more competitive. However, my sense is that this is a GOP year in Pennsylvania. Tom Corbett, the gubernatorial nominee, should help Toomey, and there will be a great deal of straight-ticket voting in the fall. But it’s early, and some caution is in order.”
Defining Sestak as a classic left-progressive early on is a key goal, Toomey strategists tell National Review Online. . . .
Unlike Specter, who flailed trying to peg Sestak as a weak leader and ran negative ads questioning Sestak’s Navy record, Toomey is determined to make the candidates’ positions the topic of conversation. “I will need to communicate a very clear contrast between Joe and myself,” Toomey says. “Joe, by virtue of his record, is a Nancy Pelosi liberal. While I am confident that Pennsylvania does not want to elect a San Francisco liberal to the United States Senate, I know that I have to keep barnstorming the state to make my case.”

Basically, Toomey needs to brand Sestak as a liberal now — while Sestak is still low on campaign cash — and thus put Sestak on the defensive. Once Sestak replenishes his coffers, his first job will be to dig himself out of a hole of negative perception.

Category: Pennsylvania, Senate, Video

Comments

2 Responses to “VIDEO: Pat Toomey Ad”

  1. Joe
    May 20th, 2010 @ 4:44 pm

    You go Pat, take the high road. Sestak is not a diseased corrupted (as in the original meaning of that word) husk of a man like Specter.

  2. Joe
    May 20th, 2010 @ 9:44 pm

    You go Pat, take the high road. Sestak is not a diseased corrupted (as in the original meaning of that word) husk of a man like Specter.