[tellw]

How does Toomey fare against Hoeffel in the general election? Is he going to be another Brett Schundler and let the Democrats pick up this Senate seat???

[MCRD]

If Toomey wins who'll stand up for Scottish law?

[Tribune7]

ping

[Tribune7]

After watching the debate, I'm convince Toomey has a much, much better chance against Hoefful than Arlen.

[Dahoser]

Are you suggesting that RINO DiFrancesco would have beaten Mayor McCheese? Not a chance. Schundler lost because the RINOs in the People's Republic of New Jersey did nothing to help him and most likely voted for McCheese.

[itsahoot]

Is he going to be another Brett Schundler and let the Democrats pick up this Senate seat???

How will you tell the difference? Except that Spector won't be chairman of the Judicial committee, and that is a good thing.

[KQQL]

If Toomey wins..It's a Toss up..
But if Spector wins the GOP primary. he will win .

[AuH2ORepublican]

I think Pat Toomey is less vulnerable to a Joe Hoeffel candidacy than is that old RINO Arlen Specter. If Specter wins the primary, I think he'd have a hard time against Hoeffel, since Specter usually loses big outside of the Philly metro area but wins by running even in Philadelphia and piling up huge margins in Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware Counties. That was his formula when he beat Lynn Yeakel (his last strong Democrat challenger) 49%-46% in 1992. But Joe Hoeffel represents Montco and SE Philly in Congress, and Specter can't count on supermajorities in the Philly metro area. So in order to win, Specter would need to win votes from socially conservative but economically liberal blue-collar Democrats in places like Erie and Scranton and Allentown and Wikes-Barre and the blue-collar Pittsburgh suburbs, something that he seems incapable of doing because he has nothing to offer to such voters (why vote for a Democrat-lite when they can vote for the real thing in Hoeffel?). In my honest opinion, the only Republican in the race who can defeat Hoeffel is Pat Toomey, who has been elected and reelected in a blue-collar Democrat district based in Allentown and Bethlehem and whose road to victory was paved by conservative Rick Santorum's two Senate runs (not coincidentally, Santorum represented a blue-collar Democrat Pittsburgh-area district in Congress in the early 1990s). And Toomey is a real Republican, too, unlike Arlen Specter, would become Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and may do to conservative Bush nominees what he did to Robert Bork when he was nominated to the Supreme Court (since Specter would never again have to face Republican primary voters, what's to stop him?). The choice for conservative and moderate Republicans is clear---support Pat Toomey for the Senate.

[Temple Owl]

I think Toomey will clean his clock. Don't forget that once he beats Specter, the rest of the Pennsylvania GOP will get in step with him.

[JohnBDay]

There's no way Toomey would lose to that Montgomery County latte liberal.

[Jorge]

How does Toomey fare against Hoeffel in the general election? Is he going to be another Brett Schundler and let the Democrats pick up this Senate seat???

That's my impression.
I'm not thrilled with Specter but I think he has a much better chance of winning the general election than Toomey.

[WOSG]

"Is he going to be another Brett Schundler and let the Democrats pick up this Senate seat???"

HUH? Shundler never got the US Senate nod. That was a governors' race, where the NJ GOP stabbed Schundler in the back and failed to support him. Will the liberal Republicans do that to Toomey? Maybe, but Toomey wont count on that, and guys like Santorum prove Toomey can win in PA.

Toomey has all the energy on his side. I hope he is a closer, because unfortunately, the trands require he make up more space to actually win.
but 46% to 40% is encouraging - specter is below the key 50% benchmark, and Toomey is still getting himself known.

http://www.toomeyforsenate.com

[Clintonfatigued]

I've wondered that, myself. Pat Toomey's social conservativism (pro-life, pro-gun) is an asset in Pennsylvania. But he's also a free-trader who supported Permanent Most Favored Trade Status for China and fast-track authority in trade agreements. These could turn out to be serious liabilities. Free trade has never been popular in Pennsylvania. I'm no Specter fan, but a Senator Hoeffel would be far, far worse.

[The Old Hoosier]

Better to give them the seat than have Specter in it as Judiciary chairman. Nothing to lose here.