How Pat Toomey outpaced Joe Sestak - and his own campaign's expectations

Unfortunately, O’Donnell did hurt Toomey.

I disagree. I was a volunteer in the Adcock campaign for PA-13 - and the way Schwartz had been acting (attacking Adcock on TV and in mailings (a strange thing to do against a candidate with name recognition problems) and suddenly being willing to appear in person for townhalls and debates, well, I thought her internal polling showed Adcock was in single-digits against her, maybe within five. And then the Dems threw out all of the stops in their GOTV efforts - even hiring canvassers at the last minute via Craigslist. They got massive turnout in Philly and the burbs - since Sestak was down six or more in polls and closed to within two statewide in the end, I figure the Dems lifted eight percent in their numbers in the Philly area - I was a rover in NE Philly all day, and the polls were hopping. Schwartz ended up winning by 13 percent - and the Dems had to have over 60 percent turnout in Montco - a stunning number given that the average mid-term turnout is in the low forties. A Dem voter I work with said she had, on election days, three calls to her home and a brochure left on her door - and she had responded earlier to a GOTV call by saying she would vote for the Dems, so they had strike teams calling and showing up in person to try and ensure she voted.

This was all about the Dems having a massive GOTV effort in Philly, and less about O'Donnell. The Dems dislike Toomey on his own accord because he is so conservative, and he became a rallying point for their GOTV efforts that overcame the Dem enthusiasm gap in this area.

Doesn’t PA lose one or two House seats? If the Republicans control the state house why not destroy the power of Philadelphia through redistricting?

I think PA-13 is a goner - Allyson Schwartz has little in the way of political allies in the state, and the GOP would gladly cast her adrift - PA-13 is a strange district anyway, going from the hood down in deep NE Philly to the farms of far NW Montco.

Of course, now that we have majorities in Harrisburg, we MUST create voter ID laws and clamp down on the fraud.

I was passing out ballot cards at a polling place in NE Philly about 6:45 pm. A couple of guys who looked like union dudes passed me with one saying to the other, 'Where do we go next?'

Voter ID laws will be critical to ending Dem abuses.

"The nasty anti-Toomey NEA commercials that carpeted the airwaves were the most prominent third-party expenditures I heard. "

Complaints about the Supreme Court decision are obviously among their current talking points. I heard complaints about it from one of the Dem volunteers who was handing out literature at my polling place during the day.

"I am firmly convinced that drive-time top-of-the-hour headline news is far and away the most important news source in the country."

I agree it should receive more attention. The article also mentioned that Toomey focused more on GOP voters who are typically lower frequency participants. I find that interesting. In a training session I was advised to focus GOTV efforts on high-frequency voters. I ignored the advice and went door to door among all GOP and Independent voters in my district. I didn't get to all of them, but I got to most. I'm eager to see how my district turnout looked compared to others. I think it must make a difference. We had turnout comparable to or exceeding the last presidential race. This is in Montgomery County, and although Sestak carried our district, we generated a lot of votes for Toomey and kept the margin smaller than I had expected.

A tip I received from another committee person is to line up block captains to help provide personal coverage in neighborhoods. By walking the district, and by talking to volunteers at the polls, I have lined up one definite assistant for the next campaign, and one or two more who would probably do it happily if I asked. I'm convinced that we need to provide more personal contact and more information of a non-attack nature. Many citizens are sick of being bombarded by negative information and sick of being treated like idiots.

"The money that poured in from third-party operations bears looking at," said Bill Walsh, director of Sestak's congressional district office. "Is this what we want in our democratic process? The country needs to ask that."

Yeah, because freedom of speech should only be tolerated by unions, pro-abortion zealots and those who agree with liberals. Concerned citizens who want to express their opposing opinions via a political ad need not apply.

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