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6/8 Ups & Downs

Some polls guide this week’s Ups & Downs, lots of wrangling in Harrisburg, and the indispensible Ed Rendell.

Bob Casey. 21 points. Not too shabby. The freshman Senator sported a 42 to 21 lead over GOP rival Tom Smith in this week’s Franklin & Marshall poll. For the second month running, the folks at National Journal said the race was just the 18th most competitive in the US – out of 20. And the recent “zombie” attacks actually help Casey, who has been pushing for a national ban for over a year.

Bill DeWeese and John Perzel. The punchline of every Bonusgate joke in 2012 has come true: the two former House Speakers convicted of corruption are cellmates in a Camp Hill prison. We give them the up/down because we’ve been unable to confirm who has top bunk.

Medical Device Tax. It’s not often we hear from every Republican candidate and official about one specific item, but this week the GOP unleashed a torrent of attacks against a 2.3 percent levy on medical device manufacturers. Mitt Romney, the RNC, the PAGOP, Tom Smith, and every Republican member of Congress and most candidates all synchronized their message and blasted the component of Obamacare – a pretty effective PR push.

Ed Rendell. He’s a pundit now, not a surrogate, and his recent comments about President Obama have helped to build his brand as a maverick. It’s certainly not going to hurt sales of his new book, “A Nation of Wusses.” That said, headlining emails from the RNC and the Romney campaign on a daily basis has PO’ed a lot of his supporters.

Capitolwire. It was a banner week for the news service. First, they broke the biggest story of the week when they revealed that Gov. Tom Corbett had made a $1.65 billion deal for Shell’s ethane cracker plant Cracker. It drove the news for a few days. Then, icing on the cake, they broke the news about DeWeese and Perzel sharing a cell. Gold mine.

Tweet of the week: Mary Wilson, WITF:

 

3 Responses

  1. Maybe Blue Dog Democrats from the Alleghenies remember what coal looks like, but no one else. PA is no industry state, save the professional services of the southeast. Tom Smith was a poor choice from the beginning. His industry roots don’t translate to “common man” status since he’s a millionaire. Not to mention his heavy involvement with the Tea Party, which might have carried him through a primary, but will flush his chances in November.

  2. The Franklin and Marshall poll was based solely from the % party breakdown in the state and not on likely turnout models. It is utter crap.

  3. F&M poll is not trustworthy. Registered votes are not necessarily likely voters. Tom Smith is my choice for Senate and I believe that he can and will beat Casey. PA is a coal state and Tom Smith was a coal miner and owned his own mining company. He knows what regulations can do to the coal industry.

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