PA-04: NRCC Ups Investment, Adds Robocalling to TV Ads
Mon Oct 23, 2006 at 01:48:20 PM PDT
I have to assume that the race in Pennsylvania's 4th District between Democrat Jason Altmire and the Republican incumbent Melissa Hart is as close as the Democrats think it is.
I'm a registered Independent, so perhaps this is why I've now been push-polled and robocalled by the NRCC.
More on the call and the pathetic ads by the NRCC and Melissa Hart -- and how you can hear Jason Altmire interviewed live tomorrow (he's a darn good interview) -- on the flip...
The robocall is another indication that the race is indeed close. Hart, almost always through her campaign spokesman -- I swear, she's scared to talk to reporters, because it's always her spokesperson, never Hart -- has consistently said that her campaign's polls show her with a double-digit lead.
But, in an article from Saturday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -- finally a substantive article from the region's biggest newspaper -- that contention was noticeably absent
"We're happy where we are," Mr. [Luke] Myslinski said. "We always knew this would be a race. There's only 39 percent Republicans [in the district]. We're busy getting out our message, and happy with how it's going."
The call itself, like the NRCC TV ad, was short and sweet: "Wendy" called to let me know that Jason Altmire supports lifting the cap on the amount of income subject to Social Security taxes, which "will raise taxes for all Americans and hurts small businesses and families."
The TV ad says the same thing, using the image of an Alka-Seltzer like tablet dropping into a glass of water, something about PA-04 voters not being able to `stomach' Altmire. Although I have only seen the ad once and wasn't watching very closely, but I think that's it. Kind of pathetic, really. That's the best they can come up with?
The ironic thing is that Hart's new ad talks about "Jason Altmire going negative" in his campaign, and then the NRCC runs their little misleading TV hit-job.
In the Post-Gazette, the NRCC claims the ads (and now the robocalling) having nothing to do with a close race:
NRCC spokesman Ed Patru declined to provide the details of a poll done immediately before the ads began but said Republican higher-ups are confident of Ms. Hart's re-election.
"We keep an eye on every race," he said. "This is a case, where from a strategic standpoint, it made sense to make a relatively nominal investment as a political insurance policy of sorts."
Even the Pittsburgh Tribune Review -- the equivalent of the Moonie Times here in the 'burgh (owned by none other than Richard Scaife) -- wrote a (gasp) balanced article on this race saying Hart may be in real trouble. So something MUST be happening!
FINALLY, tomorrow Altmire is going to appear live on TalkShoe's "Politically Savvy Friends with Jon Delano" at 9:00 am. Delano is a political reporter on the local CBS affiliate, KDKA. He's a great speaker, so if you can listen live, please do. It looks like you can also download it after the fact.
I've never listened to one of these, but apparently you can call in with questions, comments, etc. You apparently can submit them via the Web as well by downloading the TalkShoe software.
You can get more info here.
The next two weekends I hope to get out and do some targeted canvassing. Anybody from PA-04 (or a nearby area) who wants to join in, please let me know and I can put you in touch with the kindly fellow coordinating the whole thing.
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