Pennsylvania polling

In the Presidential race Republican leaning polling outfit Rasmussen Reports has President Obama leading Mitt Romney 47%-41% and the Democratic leaning pollster Public Policy Polling has a similar result with Obama topping Romney 50%-42%. The PPP crosstabs are interesting with the President's favorables about even but Romney is way underwater with 51% unfavorable to just 37% favorable. Governor Tom Corbett is also not well thought of with 50% disapproving of his job performance vs. 37% in favor.

In the Senate race Bob Casey has a 49% to 33%  lead over Bob Smith.  Smith and Steve Welch attacked each other for voting for Democrats in the past during the primary that probably left a bad taste in the mouth of Welch supporters and the state GOP. Smith's name recognition went up but so did his unfavorables.The more people get to know him the less they like him.

Democratic Attorney General candidate Kathleen Kane has the early lead over David Freed 42%-33% with 25% undecided. The hard fought primary with Patrick Murphy helped her get her name out there and Murphy's endorsement helps to close the the ranks of Democrats.Patrick is always a class act.

“Primaries are never easy. But it’s important to remember that this was a family fight. Now that it’s over, we must come together and rally behind our nominee. That’s why I am endorsing Kathleen Kane for Attorney General. Because in the end, Kathleen is Pennsylvania’s best choice for Attorney General,” Murphy said.

The contests for Auditor General and Treasurer are a wash at this point.

In other political news Nancy Pelosi  will be in town for a wedding and will make a side trip to help out 17th CD Democratic nominee Matt Cartwright raise money at a 10:30 a.m. lunch June 9 at the Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel in Scranton. That's early for this nocturnal blogger and a bit expensive.

The Republicans are always looking for some sort of  boogeyman and the soft spoken Grandmother from Sodom on the San Andreas fits the bill. Lately Chicago style  Democrats (corrupt)has replaced San Francisco Democrats (gay) in their lexicon.

Pennsylvania US Senate race

The latest polling has former State Rep Sam Rohrer leading the field of Republican contenders to replace Democrat Bob Casey who beat the last "conservative" in the presidential race Rick Santorum by 18% in 2006.

He's at 16% to 12% for Tom Smith, 10% for David Christian, 8% for Marc Scaringi, and 5% for Steve Welch. The big winner though is undecided- 48% of voters say they don't yet know who they'll choose.

Right now Casey beats them all handily. That will change.

Casey 49 – Rohrer 34
Casey 50 – Christian 32
Casey 49 – Smith 31
Casey 49 – Scaringi 29
Casey 49 – Welch 29

Laureen Cummings for Congress

I don't know if this is for real as I'm going on 1 sentence in a TL story about campaign fundraising. The one Republican to confirm she has entered the race is Tea Party activist Laureen Cummings of Old Forge, who recently dropped her bid to run for U.S. Senate.

The photo on the left is from the Fall 2010 Blogfest. Her Facebook page doesn't mention anything about a run for Congress. She was running for US Senate but dropped out and endorsed Tim Burns. The Pennsylvania Republican Party endorsed Steve Welch after some arm twisting by Governor Tom Corbett.

Speaking of Blogfest we will gathering at Rooney's Irish Pub on March 30th for what many people say is their favorite political event. You can RSVP at our Facebook Event page.