By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA Staff Writer
roarty@politicspa.com
Arlen Specter’s campaign hit the airwaves Tuesday night with a buy that reportedly includes the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia media markets, according to a report from pa2010.com.
Chris Nicholas, Specter’s campaign manager, declined to comment when asked about the ads.
A source described the ad purchase to the Web site as relatively small, roughly $300,000 large. It includes broadcast stations in Pittsburgh, Altoona and Erie and cable TV in the Philadelphia market.
News that Specter hit the airwaves before Democratic opponent Joe Sestak might surprise some observers, many of whom are privately wondering why the challenger’s campaign hasn’t started spending some of the $5 million it had on hand to start the year. Sestak still has a chance to take down the incumbent, some Democrats say, but the clock is ticking. The former admiral and his staffers have said repeatedly in recent days only that the campaign would begin running ads in the next five weeks, declining to be more specific.
A story Tuesday from The Fix might shed light on the Sestak strategy, however, with analysts telling the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza that the candidate might be waiting until the race’s final weeks to aggressively go after Specter. The Inquirer also reported that Sestak sent a mailer this week that hit Specter over his longtime Republican voting record.
Sestak might not have as much ground to make up in the race, either, according to a Rasmussen poll unveiled Tuesday that showed him in a statistical dead heat with the senator. Other recent polls have shown the congressman down by as many as 20 points.
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UPDATE: View Specter’s ad here. The minute-long spot tells an anecdote about more than 100 former Bethlehem Steel workers who had their pensions saved by Specter after the company went bankrupt. It seems aimed at blue-collar Democrats who make up much of the party’s base in the state, particularly in western Pennsylvania.
“If Arlen Specter can do this for us, just think what he can do for the rest of the downtrodden and mistreated workers in Pennsylvania,” one of the workers said.
Tags: Arlen Specter, Arlen Specter for Senate, Joe Sestak, Joe Sestak for Senate
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I believe that Senator Specter took Mr. Sestak for granted. I think he intended to save his money stash until the general election but now is realizing may need to bring out the artillery versus Mr. Sestak.