2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumPA Wake Up Call - Safe Senate Race Narrowing
And yes, I am "concerned". Very concerned. Tom Smith is dumping a SHITLOAD of money into commercials portraying him as a sweet, self-made millionaire who just wants what's best for PA.
Pennsylvanians are stupid people.
We elected Corbett.
We elected the former head of the Club for Growth, who played his extremism WAY down in the election and so snuck past the electorate, who was sound asleep when they voted for Toomey.
Now Smith and his right-wing cronies are flooding the airwaves with negative ads against Casey, who had been thought to be a shoe-in.
This is no time for complacency, Pennsylvanians! Just because the RNC gave up on the state for Romeny doesn't mean that Smith couldn't sneak his pro-millionaire agenda past dopey PA voters. Put on your walking shoes! Get yourself to campaign headquarters! Write a check! Bob Casey needs us now.
How would you feel if MA elected Warren and we almost had the Senate but lost it by ONE VOTE because homey old friendly smiling Tom Smith snookered your low-information Independent or Democratic neighbor into voting for him, and he won in PA, giving us TWO hard-right pro-millionaire Senators?
http://articles.philly.com/2012-10-02/news/34199366_1_larry-smar-rasmussen-poll-campaign-manager
brooklynite
(94,757 posts)...but I still don't think he's in any real trouble.
Patiod
(11,816 posts)Our party has always had issues with the Casey family and their super-Catholic anti-choice anti birth control positions - look at the fights at the conventions over his dad.
But that makes him attractive to an electorate that's also Catholic.
And he's a solid Democrat otherwise, and Smith is a radical like Toomey - one of the people hell-bent on handing over the country on a silver platter to the .01%.
I'm just saying, we need to work as hard on this one as we did on Obama '08
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)demwing
(16,916 posts)And Smith has never led once in the last year of surveys.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/senate/pa/pennsylvania_senate_smith_vs_casey-3008.html
mvd
(65,180 posts)I think Casey wins with Obama on the ballot. I wish we had a better Democratic choice, but Smith is crazy right wing. I'm not worried yet.
Patiod
(11,816 posts)Toomey snuck by an electorate who doesn't know Club for Growth from Sam's Club.
Casey needs to hammer "Smith=Tea Party" hard hard hard. Independents and low-info Dems might not know much about Smith OR Casey ("his name sounds really familiar" , but polls are showing that saddling someone with the Tea Party label in a less-than-deep-red-state (like PA) is going to hurt them.
mvd
(65,180 posts)AlinPA
(15,071 posts)was weak, IMO,(in W. PA) and I'm not surprised that Smith is doing better in the polls. Let's hope Casey comes on strong with ads now. I think he has the money.
I agree with Patoid. PA elected a teabagger Senator, asshole Teaabagger governor and the state house and senate are totally controlled by the republicans.
Patiod
(11,816 posts)A conservative ex-Marine friend of my dad's is sick because he saved his pennies his whole life as a blue-collar guy, and finally bought a little retirement house in the Poconos where he can go hunting.....and he has to BYOW, because the wells are ruined.
But the frackers told his town "we don't know that they weren't already ruined when we got here because none of you paid for baseline testing" so they are screwed.
Frackers also ruined the roads and have screwed up the little stream by his house (hopefully not forever).
And this guy is NOT your stereotype "tree hugger", just a guy who wanted a nice place in the woods for his retirement (I know a lot of hunters and fishers are environmentalists in their own way)
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)I grew up there - so definitely know.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)The Casey family is well known in the state and Obama is on the ballot.