Toomey edges Specter by 6 in new poll

Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey holds six-point lead over Senator Arlen Specter thanks to his strength with Republicans, likely voters and independents, according to a new poll.

The survey, by the GOP firm Susquehanna Polling & Research, found Toomey winning 42 percent of likely voters, compared to 36 percent for Specter and 18 percent who are still undecided. The results cut against a couple recent polls that showed Specter retaking the lead against Toomey, but…

March 15, 2010 at 12:51 pm | Comments (17)

Specter wins big service union backing

Senator Arlen Specter continued to find the forces of organized labor on his side Monday, winning the endorsement of the state’s chapter of the powerful Service Employees International Union.

“SEIU fights for its members, so we have a natural kinship with Senator Specter, who is well known as a fighter for Pennsylvania,” Eileen Connelly, executive director of the SEIU’s state council, said in a statement. “He’s been there for us and now we are proud…

March 15, 2010 at 12:30 pm | Comments (1)

Gay and lesbian leaders rally for Specter

PHILADELPHIA—The gay community here has a long memory. And despite a changing political landscape and a couple party-switches over the years, few gay and lesbian activists have forgotten the Arlen Specter of the 1960s and 1970s. They still see him as the assistant district attorney who clamped down on Philly cops for harassing and extorting gay men, and one of the first Pennsylvania politicians to publicly shake a gay man’s hand.

“In…

March 12, 2010 at 7:28 pm | Comments (27)

Specter leads Toomey by 6 in new poll

For the second time in 10 days, Arlen Specter can say he’s winning.

Specter holds a six-point lead over Republican Pat Toomey, 47 percent to 41 percent, according to a new Research 2000 poll. The survey, conducted for the liberal Web site Daily Kos, found only 11 percent of voters undecided in the general election matchup between Specter and Toomey.

Although the vast majority of polling from the last several months has shown Specter either…

March 12, 2010 at 6:36 pm | Comments (11)

MontCo Dems forgo Senate endorsement

PLYMOUTH MEETING—Despite boisterous support from a contingent of Joe Sestak supporters, the Montgomery County Democratic Committee declined to endorse a candidate for Senate here Thursday.

The decision to forgo an endorsement means that sample ballots in the county will list the names of both Sestak and incumbent Senator Arlen Specter. Party insiders are now free to support either candidate in the May primary. It came after weeks of rumors that party leaders were jockeying to…

March 12, 2010 at 4:53 am | Comments (36)

LEFTOVERS: SpecterPride, Kanjorski’s stimulus job, electricians for Pike

Reporters on the ground from Plymouth Meeting to Latrobe, and we still managed to miss plenty on Thursday.

Senator Arlen Specter will be formally rolling out his committee of major supporters within the LGBT community on Friday, in what his campaign is calling SpecterPride. The 68-member group includes Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News. “No other elected official in all of Pennsylvania has such a long record of accomplishments on LGBT issues as…

March 12, 2010 at 1:32 am | Comments (2)

Dems blast Toomey’s silence on jobs bill

Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey hasn’t yet taken a position on the jobs bill that passed the Senate a couple weeks ago—and Democrats think it’s about time to do so.

Both Senator Arlen Specter and the state Democratic Party criticized Toomey this week for his apparent silence. Specter wrote to Toomey, urging him to “stand up for Pennsylvania’s working families and support this legislation, or explain why you won’t help our economy…

March 11, 2010 at 9:29 am | Comments (17)

LEFTOVERS: Earmark scrutiny for Critz, firefighters for Specter, Young Dems for Pike

Mark Critz’s staunchest critic might be out of the race, but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the woods.

The candidate who Barbara Hafer lambasted as un-vetted is facing scrutiny over a meeting he apparently attended in 2005 that led to an earmark for defense contractors, an earmark that eventually led to convictions. CQ Politics reports that Critz represented his late boss John Murtha at the meeting, though it’s far from clear…

March 10, 2010 at 11:31 pm | Comments (3)

Labor endorsements for Sestak, Specter

The Democratic candidate for Senate spent Monday rolling out dueling labor endorsements, with Arlen Specter winning the backing of autoworkers and a major western Pennsylvania union council, while Joe Sestak announced support from a powerful food workers’ union.

Specter’s endorsement from the Allegheny County Labor Council was particularly notable, since the support of the council, which represents about 100,000 workers in the state, is effectively a recommendation to the statewide AFL-CIO. As he’s racked up union support in recent weeks, Specter has continued to court the state’s largest umbrella labor group, which has backed him in the past.

March 8, 2010 at 6:52 pm | Comments (39)

Sestak endorsed by women’s group

The National Organization for Women’s political action committee endorsed Democrat Joe Sestak’s Senate bid Friday, calling him “a leader in the struggle to achieve full equality for women and girls.”

The endorsement gave Sestak his most significant organizational support in his primary bid against Senator Arlen Specter. It was delivered at Sestak’s campaign office in Pittsburgh.

“The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee is proud and excited to endorse such a strong candidate for…

March 5, 2010 at 2:30 pm | Comments (43)