Posted on 04/21/2010 12:23:13 PM PDT by Palmetto Patriot
A portion of Pat Toomey's early support for U.S. Senate is just a repudiation of incumbent Arlen Specter.
A look behind the poll numbers shows Toomey's lead in the general election is soft. For some, a vote for Toomey is a vote against Specter. Take Specter out of the hypothetical matchups, and Toomey's numbers fall in three statewide polls.
The most notable dropoff is in a recent Morning Call/Muhlenberg College survey of Pennsylvanian voters. Toomey beats Specter 47 percent to 40 percent, but his numbers drop dramatically (33 percent to 22 percent) when he's pitted against the Democrats' other candidate, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak.
On May 18 state Democratic voters will pick Specter or Sestak. Toomey, a former Lehigh Valley congressman, faces Peg Luksik on the spring GOP ballot. The winners will square off in November.
For now, Toomey picks up votes on the mere fact that he's not Specter, a Republican-turned-Democrat who polls show has high unfavorability among Pennsylvanians.
Against Sestak, Toomey still leads, but both candidates have a lot of room to grow.
''I think there's no other way to look at it, Pat Toomey is in no way a household name in the state,'' said Chris Borick,a Muhlenberg College pollster. ''Everybody has an opinion of Arlen Specter, and a lot of those opinions are negative. Those opinions are without a doubt helping Toomey more than anything he's done yet.''
Specter acknowledged voters' negative impression of him, but said it's just a casualty of being an incumbent.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcall.com ...
Think of what that meant for our country.
He was the 60th vote for Obama and Reid.
How bad would you feel if Arlen Specter were re-elected?
Send what you can to Pat.
http://www.toomeyforsenate.com/index.php
They’re trying to nudge Specter out of the primary because they’re sure he’s toast.
The old boy is running a tv ad here with some gal in a hard hat saying she wouldn’t have had her job if it weren’t for Arlen. What a crock!
Toomey is definitely my guy. I wouldn’t vote for that Peg Luksik woman, only because her campaign has called me twice (one of those automated message thingies that you can’t disconnect till it’s over). I decided that if any candidate calls me like that, I won’t vote for him (or her). So Toomey — please don’t call. Thank you.
I sure hope that if Sestak were to win the nomination that Toomey points out that he is to the LEFT of mainstream America...and it isn’t even close.
I’ve heard him interviewed a number of times on the local radio station here (York) and he is as far-left as they come. If he runs as a centrist, Toomey needs to call him out on it. Sestak is as far-left as Pelosi, Kucinich, or any host of left-wingers you can think of.
Anyone but MCCain and Graham-nesty too.
I so hope Specter wins the Dem primary so the nation can watch Toomey smoke him in the general.
LOL. Good one. So there is no such thing as the "power of the incumbancy" anymore, Arlen? Maybe the voters have a negative impression because you are a nasty old man who broke your word to those who voted for you by switching parties. Nobody likes a turncoat who turns on his friends for his own expediency, especially when he blames everyone else when his chickens come home to roost.
Same here. I want to drink a toast to the defeat of Spector, Boxer, and Reid on election night.
Just as I did when tiny tommy daschle got fired in 04.
Is there any doubt that Spincter made a deal, I change parties and you (dummies) guarantee unlimited support for my re-election. Clear as day.
I’m planning to vote for Specter in the primary just so he can have the rematch with Toomey which he tried so hard to avoid. I was going to get my registration fixed, but it is less than 30 days before the primary now.
My greatest wish as well. I do think Toomey needs to get out there more, I know he got a boatload of cash to beat Specter so I worry about who's managing his campaign.
Does Specter have a specter of a chance of winning?
About time. I voted for him for Senate as a college student in 1980!. I have not visited Pennsylvania in 25 years, and Arlen is STILL THERE! Go home, Arlen!
One of the nastiest political infighters in the Senate? Yep. Nothing should ever be taken for granted.
Not if people I talk to hava anything to say about it. He has his base which has always been Dems but I think the Republicans and Independents who voted for him in the past were just taking the lesser of two evils.
No longer the case since Specter made his evil side public.
This is stating the obvious, Toomey will waltz to an easy win, if Spectre is on the ballot. If the Dems switch their candidate, its not as certain for Toomey.
I still think he will win given the current political climate, but it goes from being a shoe in for Toomey, to at least a race.
Spectre has ZERO chance of winning re-election in PA.
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