For the second time in about two weeks. I'll follow-up on
another diary about the PA-04 race, again, only because I wanted to pass along some additional details that might be of interest to Kossacks.
To be certain, things are getting a might crazy here in western Pa. Aside from the pathetic attempt at Swiftboating Rep. Murtha a little further east of this particular district and the game of TV ad whack-a-mole being waged by Rick Santorum and Bob Casey, the race between the upstart Democrat Jason Altmire and the once seemingly unbeatable incumbent Rep. Melissa Hart is en fuego!
More on the flip...
Friday evening saw the arrival of Al Franken in the `burgh. Mr. Franken headlined a fundraiser for Altmire at a (really freakin' nice!) loft apartment in Pittsburgh's
Strip District. Joining Big Al at the fundraiser was no other than Pittsburgh's new cherub-cheeked mayor, Luke Ravenstahl.
A few juicy tidbits emerged from this fundraiser (the first I've ever attended). First, having now raised more than $650,000, Altmire's campaign has set a fundraising record for a nonincumbent in western Pa. (whether this is adjusted for inflation is unclear, but it's still pretty impressive).
Second, and I'll try to confirm this, according to PA-14 incumbent Democrat Rep. Mike Doyle, who also spoke at the fundraiser, the DCCC was so intrigued by the poll that Altmire funded more than a month ago showing him within the 4.9% margin of error, Rahm Emanuel had the DCCC do its own poll.
The result: Altmire within 3 points! If that's true, and I'll try to confirm, that's just amazing.
Then, on Sunday, as the Steelers were making the Chiefs look more like junior squaws, I got a call from a polling outfit. It was obvious early in the call that it was focused on the Hart/Altmire race.
For most of the call, I thought it was an independent poll. But, suddenly, in the midst of a series of questions about factors that might influence how I plan to vote, things CHANGED dramatically.
"Partisan control of Congress is at stake in this election," the pollster asserted. "If Democrats win control of the House, Nancy Pelosi, a liberal Democrat from San Francisco, will become the Speaker of the House and Democrats are going to raise taxes, cut and run from Iraq, and grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. Will that make you more or less likely to vote for Jason Altmire or Melissa Hart?"
I paused for what must have been 5 seconds at least and stammered out something to the effect of, "That's a weird question." And then, suddenly realizing what was occurring, still answered "Altmire, more likely."
Then the next question:
"If Democrats take control of the House, they plan to raise the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes, which would raise taxes on the majority of Americans and hurt small businesses. More or less likely..." Again, I paused, again I said "Altmire, more likely."
Then I asked her to repeat the last two questions back to me and scribbled them down as fast as I could. So what's above is NOT verbatim, but pretty darn close.
It occurs to me that these leading, biased, GOP-talking point questions suggest that lil' Missy Hart is getting desperate.
Altmire's continuing to run TV ads highlighting her atrocious voting record and more are on the way. I suppose that's why Hart has FINALLY agreed to a debate. Her comfy lead is gone and now she has to try to do something, because it's all starting to slip away, isn't it, Missy?
All in all, these are very encouraging signs. I plan on letting the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and some other local papers know about this push polling [If I'm using the incorrect term, please let me know] and hopefully that will spur some "Hart's getting desperate" story lines.
Hopefully this will be one more D that will go in the victory column on Nov. 7.