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There are already a couple of LIVE THREADS covering the overall PA primary election. But I don't see anything out there for the Arkansas, Kentucky and Oregon folks so we are going to post our normal live thread focusing on the Key House Races. In this weeks Primary Elections we see 2 competitive House Races in AR and 9 in PA. Plus there is the Special Election in PA-12 that we have been following. There is nothing looking very competitive to us in OR or KY. So if you are just interested in how things are going across the board...

Here is video of CBS News' Bob Schieffer today - the day before the Pennsylvania Primary - saying that sources tell him that the White House is preparing for a loss by incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democrat Primary, and that President Obama "doesn't want to be associated" with it. Obama has campaigned for Specter. Too late, Mr. President. You are already "associated with it." Specter switched parties to save his own skin (he thought) and do your bidding.

A final Public Policy Polling survey in Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district finds the special election to replace the late John Murtha (D) looks to be headed for a photo finish with Tim Burns (R) barely edging Mark Critz (D), 48% to 47%. Voters head to the polls on Tuesday.

Rep. Joe Sestak said he was confident he would topple incumbent Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter in Tuesday’s Democratic primary and called on Specter to endorse his candidacy when he does. “I’m looking forward to Sen. Specter’s support after [Tuesday],” Sestak said Sunday during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Sestak, who was elected to the House in 2006, has surged ahead of Specter in some polls in recent days and said he was confident he would best Specter, a 30-year veteran of the Senate, in part because of Specter’s decision to switch to the Democratic Party in...

Just days before he stands before Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary voters, Sen. Arlen Specter, a former Republican, sought to cast his party switch of a year ago as a matter of principle rather than self-interested politics. “For years, I've tried to moderate the Republican Party,” Specter, a five-term incumbent, said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “And when the stimulus came up and President Obama asked me for his support - for my support, and it looked like we were sliding into a 1929 depression, I sided with President Obama.“It wasn't my job to be saved. It was the jobs...

We're going to do a final PA-12 poll over the weekend. There are a lot of reasons, from our last poll of the district, why Republicans should win this race: 1) Barack Obama's approval rating there is just 33% 2) The district has a very low minority population and nonwhite voters have been sticking with the Democratic Party to a much greater extent than white voters over the last year. 3) Only 24% of voters there have a favorable opinion of Nancy Pelosi. 4) Republican voters in the district are more excited about voting than the Democrats. But there's also...

METHODOLOGY: Beginning on May 2, 2010 and ending on May 16, 2010, The Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion and the Morning Call will be releasing daily results from their statewide Democratic primary tracking poll. The results are drawn from telephone surveys of likely Democratic voters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Each day’s release will be based on the results of interviews conducted during the previous four days. For example, the initial release on Sunday, May 2nd was produced from interviews conducted between April 28th and May 1st. While the total sample size will alternate from day to day because...

Arlen Specter, shameless opportunist, essentially recycles old campaign ad, deleting Bush, inserting Obama.

Filling the void in 12th District Observer-Reporter May 10, 2010 The unexpected death in February of U.S. Rep. John Murtha left a void in the U.S. Congress and, more specifically, in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District, that seems unlikely to be filled anytime soon. Murtha not only brought a wealth of expertise on defense issues to the U.S. House of Representatives, but also pulled a bounty of federal projects into his district. Some may have condemned it as pork-barrel spending, but it brought the region a much-needed economic lift as the steel industry withered. Voters in the 12th Congressional District will...

May 9, 2010 Russell steadfast in pursuit of GOP nomination Mike Faher — This much is clear: William Russell is tenacious. Just don’t call him “bitter.” The Upper Yoder Township Republican, in his second attempt at winning the 12th Congressional District seat, is again getting no support from his party. But while he makes no secret about his dissatisfaction with GOP leadership, Russell insists that it’s not anger that has motivated him to stay in the race. “The best way to overcome this is not to be bitter, but to set about winning the primary,” Russell said. The career Army...

At first blush, Democrats should have nothing to fear in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District special election. John Murtha held this seat for decades. Democrats have a 2-1 registration advantage over Republicans. Their candidate was a Murtha aide for over ten years, while their opponent has had little political experience. And yet, the AP has gotten a big whiff of panic from Pennsylvania Democrats... The polling shows a very close race — with Burns in the lead. That has Democrats worried about how other normally-safe districts might turn out in November. That fear has come out in Critz’ campaigning, where he...

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- In what was the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha's western Pennsylvania district - reachable through John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport or John P. Murtha Highway - Democrats watch nervously, hoping his former top aide can hold on to the House seat. Mark Critz, who worked for Murtha for more than a decade in Pennsylvania, including the past three as district director, is in a fierce fight with Republican businessman Tim Burns in the May 18 special election. The national GOP has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to push Burns' candidacy, sensing a legitimate shot of...

Kos poll: Burns by six By: Josh Kraushaar April 30, 2010 12:59 PM EDT Weighed down in his district by low presidential favorability ratings and a health care law that's unpopular there, Pennsylvania Democrat Mark Critz now trails by six points in next month's special election for the seat of the late Rep. John Murtha, according to a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll released Friday. Critz, who served on Murtha's staff before the congressman's death, takes 40 percent of the vote in the poll compared with 46 percent for Republican businessman Tim Burns. The poll shows President Barack Obama's favorability number...

The new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of the PA-12 special election gives Republican businessman Tim Burns the edge in the race for the House seat formerly held by the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha. The numbers: Burns 46%, with Democratic candidate and former Murtha aide Mark Critz at 40%. The sample of likely voters has a ±4% margin of error. The Democrats have held this seat since 1974, when Murtha picked it up from the Republicans in a special election held in the midst of the Watergate scandals. The special election will be held on May 18. The TPM Poll...

LATROBE – On paper, the nine counties meandering across Western Pennsylvania to form the 12th Congressional District numerically favor Democrats by a nice margin. In reality, people who live, work and pray here could not be more removed from the Democratic Party ruling out of Washington. More rural/suburban than urban/suburban, it is chock-full of conservative Democrats who believe in hard work, God and guns. It is a world that elite liberals fail to understand, as one Democratic strategist confessed in an e-mail: “Have to admit that America is about as foreign as France to me.” On May 18, ex-congressional aide...

Maybe Pennsylvania conservatives owe Rick Santorum an apology. Many stayed home in 2006 setting the stage for Democrat Bob Casey to take the senate seat Santorum held since 1995. Some even actively worked against him. And it was all because Santorum endorsed incumbent Arlen Specter over insurgent Pat Toomey in the 2004 GOP senate primary. Yes, children Arlen Specter was a Republican in those days.

Russell promises fresh start in 12th District By SAM KUSIC Saturday, April 10, 2010 8:07 Late Congressman John P. Murtha was a veritable industry unto himself, bringing in millions of dollars worth of earmarks for the 12th Congressional District. But should Johnstown Republican Bill Russell be elected, he won't try to replicate Murtha's federal funding feats. It couldn't be done anyway, he said. ``Everything he brought in was brought in by his force of personality. Nobody can repeat that, and so it's going to require a new vision,'' said Russell. Russell, who met with The Indiana Gazette editorial board on...

(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) again called on rival Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) to provide more specific details about his claim that the White House offered him a high-level administration job in exchange for dropping his challenge to Specter in the Senate Democratic primary race. Sestak's claim of a job offer has become a major issue in the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic primary. The White House, meanwhile, has yet to offer a clear-cut explanation. Specter made his latest comment about Sestak at an editorial board meeting with the Delaware County-Daily Times of Primos, Pa. It comes at a time when...

Russell Accuses State Republican Party Chairman of Collusion March 24, 2010 by David CroyleHarrisburg is talking about last night’s cable show in Kittanning where the Republican candidate for the 12th Congressional District accused the state Republican Party chairman of collusion.Bill Russell ran two years ago against John Murtha in his last election in 2008, raising $3.6 million and earning an impressive 42 percent of the vote. Following his loss, Russell announced he would run against him again.Since Murtha’s unexpected death on February 8, a special election will now be held simultaneously with the Primary on May 18. However, while Russell...

JOHNSTOWN – Last summer Marc Roberge walked onstage at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park to perform in front of the largest crowd he and his popular rock band, O.A.R., had faced. In front of 40,000 mostly Western Pennsylvanians who came out for a night of mediocre baseball followed by fireworks and music, Roberge lost his voice. “The first thought that raced through my mind was, ‘I want to give everyone their money back,’ ” he recalls. A blood vessel had broken in his vocal cords. Yet, he says, “What could have been a negative became a turning point in my life.” People...