In Pennsylvania, Republican Pat Toomey has jumped out to an 8-point lead--48% to 40%--over Democrat Joe Sestak in the Morning Call/Muhlenberg tracking poll, the same poll that showed Toomey down 3 points a week ago. (RCP polling average: Toomey +3.3%.)
In Pennsylvania, the Morning Call/Muhlenberg daily tracking poll gave Republicans quite a scare last week when it showed Joe Sestak leading Pat Toomey 44% to 41%, but now, following the debates, the same poll shows Toomey back on top 47% to 42%. In the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Toomey leads Sestak by 2.5%.
Many people are talking about the dramatic tightening of the Pennsylvania Senate race between Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Joe Sestak. But upon closer inspection, most of that apparent tightening seems to be a mirage.
During the Pennsylvania Senate debate on Wednesday night, Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Joe Sestak each tried to paint the other as too extreme to represent the Keystone state. Both candidates came well-armed with their talking points and were fairly well-matched rhetorically. Toomey was businesslike and bland, while Sestak spoke in hushed "more-in-sadness-than-in-anger" tones, with the occasional flash of indignation.
After some initial skepticism at a PPP poll that showed Democrat Joe Sestak one point ahead of Republican Pat Toomey in the Pennsylvania Senate race (46% to 45%), another poll by Muhlenberg showed Sestak up three, 44% to 41%. That was enough to wake up conservatives.
Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm, declares: "You can put Pennsylvania Senate back in the toss up category. Joe Sestak leads Pat Toomey 46-45 in our newest poll of the race, erasing the 9 point deficit he had in an August PPP survey."
Rasmussen moves the Pennsylvania Senate race to "solid GOP":
Republican Pat Toomey now holds a 10-point lead over Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak, the widest gap between the candidates since early April in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race.
Philadelphia Pennsylvania Democratic congressman and Senate candidate Joe Sestak said this morning that he supports the constitutional right to build the Ground Zero mosque but declined to say whether it's insensitive to 9/11 families.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is campaigning for Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania today. Perhaps Bloomberg, an independent Republican with a strong pro-Israel record, is there to help cover up Sestak's tarnished record on Israel. But in reality, Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska with a "questionable" record on Israel, is perhaps the Republican Sestak admires most.
Arlen Specter abandoned the GOP when it was convenient for him to do so, and now the Democratic White House is showing Specter it can play that game, too.
U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak continues his stretch run in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate primary and now trails incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter by a too-close-to-call 44 - 42 percent among likely Democratic primary voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
