LEFTOVERS: Labor mail, Dukakis for Trivedi, Lentz mocks Meehan’s debate skills

Organized labor continues to play big in the direct-mail game ahead of November.

The state’s AFL-CIO rolled out its latest mail pieces Monday, the third week in a row it’s hitting up homes across Pennsylvania. The new mail pieces, targeting Senate candidate Pat Toomey and six GOP House candidates, paint Republican hopefuls as friends of Wall Street who want to outsource American jobs.

They err on at least one count, the same count that has …

September 27, 2010 at 4:19 pm | Comments (11)

Pa. Dems cry FCC foul on Gerlach ad

Pennsylvania Democrats want a Berks County television station to begin charging Republican Jim Gerlach’s campaign more money for airtime, after Gerlach’s campaign omitted a visual disclaimer that is typically required for campaigns to receive cheaper advertising rates.

At issue is the first 30-second spot of Gerlach’s reelection campaign, which juxtaposes positive messages about Gerlach with the argument that Democratic challenger Manan Trivedi supports a “far-left agenda.” Federal law entitles candidates to cheaper ad rates …

September 27, 2010 at 3:45 pm | Comments (11)

Trivedi ad pushes back against residency attack

A new TV ad from Democrat Manan Trivedi fights back against attempts by Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-6) to paint him as a carpetbagger.

Gerlach’s campaign recently noted that for much of the last decade, Trivedi didn’t live in the suburban Philadelphia district. For some of that time, Trivedi was serving as a Navy doctor in Iraq, as he notes in the new ad, his third of the campaign. Featuring other veterans surrounding Trivedi, the …

September 23, 2010 at 10:18 am | Comments (13)

LEFTOVERS: Florida loophole debate, fighting to the death (tax), golf in the 6th

The so-called Florida loophole is once again all the political rage.

In case you’re not versed in the intricacies of interstate gun policy, the loophole exists because the Sunshine State issues out-of-state residents permits to carry concealed weapons through its Department of Agriculture, even if those folks couldn’t get concealed-carry permits in their home state. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato has been forcefully calling for Republican rival Tom Corbett to use his power as state …

September 20, 2010 at 5:04 pm | Comments (5)

LEFTOVERS: Obama endorsements, a new tack on Toomey, Carney news galore

In reporting on President Obama’s endorsement of Democrat Bryan Lentz this week, we failed to mention that a couple other Pennsylvania Democrats also got the president’s backing—in eerily similar language.

“And with so much still left to be done, and too many families struggling to get by, we need to keep America moving forward—which means I need you to support Manan Trivedi for Congress,” Obama wrote about the 6th District candidate to his Keystone State …

September 17, 2010 at 6:16 pm | Comments (3)

AD WATCH: Trivedi keeps it simple

In introducing himself to voters in the 6th Congressional District, Democrat Manan Trivedi has used two TV ads to call for a congressional pay cut and share his background as a military veteran and doctor.

The political difficulty of achieving a congressional pay cut as a freshman aside, Trivedi’s commercials are filled mostly with the kind of boilerplate biographical information and ideological rhetoric that requires little fact-checking. Because of that, we give Trivedi’s first …

September 15, 2010 at 4:05 pm | Comments (6)

LEFTOVERS: Revisiting Toomey’s attack, endorsements, a live TV debate

A day after Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey blasted Democrat Joe Sestak for taking campaign cash from a group called Citizens for Global Solutions, Democrats came back at Toomey hard, noting that a plethora of GOPers have also received money from the group.

Saying that Toomey was “errantly” bashing folks like Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-6), state Democratic Party spokesman Mark Nicastre said Toomey’s “attack on [Sestak and Gerlach] was about as reckless as his …

September 14, 2010 at 8:51 pm | Comments (0)

Gerlach starts TV campaign (Updated)

The first TV ad for Congressman Jim Gerlach’s (R-6) reelection campaign was set to hit airwaves Tuesday, a person familiar with the ad buy told pa2010.com.

The 30-second spot, released by Gerlach’s campaign Wednesday after pa2010.com first reported the ad buy Tuesday, paints Gerlach as an independent advocate for taxpayers, while saying Democratic challenger Manan Trivedi is pushing a “far-left agenda that’s wrong for taxpayers.”

Trivedi has already aired two TV ads. Gerlach …

September 14, 2010 at 1:30 pm | Comments (12)

Clyburn to raise cash for Lentz, Trivedi

The third-ranking Democrat in the House is coming to Philadelphia to help boost the campaign coffers of congressional candidates Manan Trivedi and Bryan Lentz.

Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC), the Majority Whip, will be headlining a fundraiser for the two candidates Sept. 26 in Philadelphia.

Trivedi, who is running in the 6th District, and Lentz, who’s battling for the open seat in the 7th District, have already formed a joint fundraising committee. The event with Clyburn …

September 14, 2010 at 11:15 am | Comments (1)

LEFTOVERS: Obama to Philly, ‘extremism’ in the Senate race, debates in the 6th

Those of us who live in Philadelphia could be forgiven for thinking that President Obama is starting to hold the City of Brotherly Love in particularly high esteem.

Obama has made more than a couple trips to Philly recently, and he’s coming again next month. In an announcement that slipped through the proverbial cracks at pa2010.com Central last week, it looks like Obama will headline a Democratic National Committee rally Oct. 10. That’s one of …

September 13, 2010 at 8:47 pm | Comments (2)