Joe Sestak has Pennsylvania Democrats right where he wants them.
Lining up against him.
No doubt Bob Brady and party leaders are congratulating themselves for apparently successfully completing their 'Anybody But Sestak' campaign.
After failing to coax several folks into the race for the nomination to challenge the former Delco congressman in the primary for the right to face Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, it looks like they have their woman.
Katie McGinty, chief of staff for Gov. Tom Wolf, yesterday resigned her post. It is expected she will announce her intention to seek the Democratic nomination in the Senate race.
The Dem bosses should take heed of that old saw, "be careful what you wish for."
That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with McGinty, even if she did do a quick El Foldo in her race for the Dem nomination for governor, left in the backwater wake behind Wolf's bold, early $10 million television campaign.
But Democrats have been down this road with Sestak once before.
They wanted him to step aside when longtime Republican Sen. Arlen Specter read the writing on the wall, realized he was going to lose a Republican primary to the conservative Toomey, and promptly switched parties.
He was welcomed with open arms by party leaders, including President Barack Obama, his old Senate buddy Vice President Joe Biden, and Philly powerhouses Gov. Ed Rendell and Brady.
There's only one thing they didn't count on.
Joe Sestak.
The retired admiral dug in his heels and spit in the eyes of the party brass. He knocked off Specter in the primary before falling to Toomey in a very close race.
Now he'll tangle with McGinty.
One thing's for certain. The cost of finding a Democratic challenger to Toomey just went up.
And that could be a problem for Sestak.
The guy who showed longtime Delco Republican Congressman Curt Weldon the door is lagging in terms of fundraising. On Wednesday he reported he had raised $727,729 in the period April 1 to June 30, and has $2,165,861 on hand in his war chest. In the meantime Toomey raised $2.2 million in the quarter and is sitting on more than $8 million.
In other words, Toomey raised more in the quarter than Sestak has in total.
That's not a good sign, and underscores Dem leaders' belief that Sestak has trouble raising money.
It also means Democrats will spend a ton of money just deciding on a candidate next spring, let alone going up against that Toomey war chest in the fall.
None of that is likely to deter the admiral.
He used to bucking the odds.
And his own party.
He's got 'em right where he wants 'em.
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