By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

A mysterious press release issued Thursday by Mary Beth Buchanan’s congressional campaign sparked a quick flurry of rumors that she planned to withdraw from the race Friday, before sources close to the campaign quickly tamped down any such story.

The Republican issued a release this afternoon touting a “significant campaign announcement” in Pittsburgh the next day but gave no other details. The news appears to have caused at least several reporters, including one from PoliticsPA and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to question whether the ex-U.S. attorney was making a sudden exit from a primary set to take place in less than a week.

Her campaign has been beset by problems since inception and is now locked in a tought battle with Allegheny County attorney Keith Rothfus for the party’s nomination in the 4th Congressional District, a contest some GOP insiders now see as a dead heat. She had been billed at the start of the year as the race’s heavy favorite.

Hours after Buchanan’s release, the Rothfus campaign seized on the rumors.

“I have done this for a very long time,” campaign adviser Michael O’Connell wrote in an e-mail to reporters, “but every once in a while something wholly unanticipated happens. Late today, a candidate running for Congress– none too skillfully– against my client sent out a cryptic press release about a ‘major campaign announcement’ tomorrow.

“The immediate result: In a quarter of an hour, I got a half-dozen calls from journalists asking if I thought she was dropping out of the race,” he said. “That that was the automatic assumption of so many people who have covered the race probably tells us everything that needs to be known about Mary Beth Buchanan’s campaign for Congress.”

Sources tell PoliticsPA the “significant” campaign announcement will involve her simply criticizing her Republican opponent.

Both Republicans are seeking the party’s nomination to take on Democratic incumbent Jason Altmire in the fall.