As the numbers between longtime incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter and his Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak heat up, so is the rhetoric.
Sestak, once considered the longest of long shots, is making this a race.
This morning there is a thunderbolt in the race. A new Rasmussen poll is out today of 408 likely voters, and it turns the race on its head. Rasmussen now shows Sestak in the lead, 47-42 percent, with 8 percent undecided.
Back on Feb. 8, Rasmussen was showing a gap of 51-36 percent. Sestak has gone from 125 down to 5 points up.
The key, apparently, is a backlash on what is being perceived as negative Specter TV ads.
Some other recent polls also showed the race tightening. The Quinnipiac Poll had it 47-39 for Specter. That’s down 13 points from Specter’s once much more formidable lead. A Muhlenberg College poll has it even closer, at 46-43 percent for Specter, with 11 percent undecided. In other words, a tossup.
That’s what the power of TV advertising will do. Sestak held his money close to the vest for months, and his statewide recognition lagged. Now he’s on TV, and he connecting with voters.
Specter actually beat him to the punch on TV, but he did an odd thing, at least in my mind. He decided to attack Sestak, first for his service record, then for missing a bunch of votes in Washington. He never really mentioned himself in that first ad. It was all about Sestak. I guess this could be seen as a pre-emptive strike, and framing the debate. To me it seemed to offer a statewide platform to someone who was pretty much an unknown outside the Philly area.
Now it’s a dogfight, and the candidates are going at it like cats & dogs.
Sestak will be here for a meeting with our editorial board this afternoon.
We will make our endorsement later this week.
If you have something you’d like Sestak to answer, shoot me an e-mail at editor@delcotimes.com.
Sestak, once considered the longest of long shots, is making this a race.
This morning there is a thunderbolt in the race. A new Rasmussen poll is out today of 408 likely voters, and it turns the race on its head. Rasmussen now shows Sestak in the lead, 47-42 percent, with 8 percent undecided.
Back on Feb. 8, Rasmussen was showing a gap of 51-36 percent. Sestak has gone from 125 down to 5 points up.
The key, apparently, is a backlash on what is being perceived as negative Specter TV ads.
Some other recent polls also showed the race tightening. The Quinnipiac Poll had it 47-39 for Specter. That’s down 13 points from Specter’s once much more formidable lead. A Muhlenberg College poll has it even closer, at 46-43 percent for Specter, with 11 percent undecided. In other words, a tossup.
That’s what the power of TV advertising will do. Sestak held his money close to the vest for months, and his statewide recognition lagged. Now he’s on TV, and he connecting with voters.
Specter actually beat him to the punch on TV, but he did an odd thing, at least in my mind. He decided to attack Sestak, first for his service record, then for missing a bunch of votes in Washington. He never really mentioned himself in that first ad. It was all about Sestak. I guess this could be seen as a pre-emptive strike, and framing the debate. To me it seemed to offer a statewide platform to someone who was pretty much an unknown outside the Philly area.
Now it’s a dogfight, and the candidates are going at it like cats & dogs.
Sestak will be here for a meeting with our editorial board this afternoon.
We will make our endorsement later this week.
If you have something you’d like Sestak to answer, shoot me an e-mail at editor@delcotimes.com.
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