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<p>Conservatives, frustrated by the Republican leadership’s role in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Senate primary victory of liberal Sen. Arlen Specter, publicly are directing their anger on one of their own — Sen. Rick Santorum. “The person our members are most infuriated at is Rick Santorum,” said Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, which helped lead a conservative crusade in support of Rep. Patrick J. Toomey’s Senate primary bid against Mr. Specter. In one of the most fiercely contested Republican Senate primaries in recent memory, Mr. Specter eked out a 51 percent to 49 percent victory on Tuesday. “Santorum undermined fellow conservatives in a really ignoble way, telling people a conservative can’t win. Our members won’t forget that for a long time,” said Mr. Moore, whose national organization contributed $1 million to the Toomey campaign and spent another $1 million in television ads on the candidate’s behalf.</p>

While there’s still a lot of road ahead in the 2012 presidential race, one fact is already clear: The eventual GOP nominee is probably going to leave a certain number of conservative Republicans wary, or even skeptical. The selection of a running mate will be even more important than usual, as it will be the biggest decision of the campaign and the clearest signal the nominee can send to GOP doubters looking for reassurance. For Mitt Romney, numerous conservatives just don’t trust him. Between the health-care plan and individual mandate that he signed into law in Massachusetts and the leftover...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sidestepping controversy, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., declined to take sides Monday on a proposal for higher taxes backed by fellow Republicans on Congress' supercommittee, yet expressed confidence the panel would agree on a deficit-reduction plan of at least $1.2 trillion by a Nov. 23 deadline. A proposal for $300 billion in higher taxes has stirred grumbling within the ranks of congressional Republicans, for whom opposition to such measures has been political bedrock for more than two decades. One prominent conservative, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, said in a published commentary during the day that "our...

The federal government has rescinded it's bizarre deadline to change all the street signs in the country and credit goes to Sen. Pat Toomey. The Federal Highway Administration in 2009 mandated that street name signs throughout the nation be upper/lower case with a deadline of 2018. For the historically challenged, 2009 is the first year of the Obama era. It would have been a costly and wasteful endeavor with the burden falling on municipal governments. The cost to replace a street sign is about $50. It adds up. The expense to New York City was estimated to be $28 million....

Aug. 20, 2011, 2:50 p.m. EDT ‘Super committee’ Republican: Simplify taxes More spending ‘very bad idea,’ tea-party favorite Sen. Toomey says By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The 12-member “super committee” tasked with cutting the U.S. budget deficit has a “great opportunity” to simplify the tax code, Sen. Pat Toomey says. What it won’t do, if the Pennsylvania Republican gets his way, is spend any government money in an attempt to boost economic growth. Spending, the former Club for Growth president said in a phone interview with MarketWatch, is “an artificial way that the government tries to conjure up...

Who's been cozying up to the members of the new Congressional super committee? With the committee set to decide on a whopping $1.5 trillion in federal deficit reduction this fall, lobbyists and corporations are trying to figure out which industries are best connected to the 12 members of the new panel. You can bet that those connections will be pressed to the limit in coming months as companies and sectors scramble to ensure that federal spending they like and tax breaks they depend on aren't slated for elimination. As it looks at the new committee members, Wall Street may like...

Note to President Barack Obama: Telling the American people how to feel is not leadership. In his weekly radio address today, the president claimed it is "partisanship and gridlock" that have "hindered our efforts to grow the economy," that we have a right to be frustrated and we should let members of Congress know that we are. In short, the weak economy his policies have made so much worse is the fault of his political opposition so please join him in blaming them for his failure.

WASHINGTON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Here is a look at some of the top donors to election campaigns for the 12 members of the U.S. Congress named to a deficit-fighting "super committee." Known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the panel is expected to be the most heavily lobbied body in Washington ahead of its Nov. 23 deadline for making recommendations on $1.5 trillion in additional budget savings. Unless specified, donations below combine members' campaign committees and leadership PACs (political action committees). Data is from www.opensecrets.org. SENATE DEMOCRATS Patty Murray of Washington state * Software giant Microsoft Corp...

The 12 lawmakers appointed to a new congressional supercommittee charged with tackling the nation's fiscal problems have received millions in contributions from special interests with a direct stake in potential cuts to federal programs, an Associated Press review of federal campaign data has found. The newly appointed members — six Democrats and six Republicans — have received more than $3 million total during the past five years in donations from political committees with ties to defense contractors, health care providers and labor unions. That money went to their re-election campaigns, according to AP's review. Supporters say the lawmakers were picked...

LOUISVILLE, KY – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday announced his appointments to the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction tasked with reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion more than the cuts already identified in the Budget Control Act. McConnell appointed Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). “Chronic joblessness, out-of-control deficits and debt, and an unprecedented credit downgrade represent an historic challenge but also an historic opportunity for lawmakers in Washington to show they can work together on a plan that puts America back on the path to prosperity. All three of these...

LOUISVILLE, KY – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday announced his appointments to the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction tasked with reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion more than the cuts already identified in the Budget Control Act. McConnell appointed Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). “Chronic joblessness, out-of-control deficits and debt, and an unprecedented credit downgrade represent an historic challenge but also an historic opportunity for lawmakers in Washington to show they can work together on a plan that puts America back on the path to prosperity. All three of these...

Former GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, who this week referred to Tea Party lawmakers as "hobbits," publicly criticized Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey Sunday during an unusual unscripted debate on the Senate floor. McCain, who appeared to be having a great 'ol time during a back and forth with Democrat Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin, referred to Toomey and those who share his views as "terrible." (snip) "...the terrible obstructionists on this side of the aisle, the terrible people, their flawed philosophical views about the future of America..."

Sens. Lee, Toomey and Paul Introduce Cut, Cap and Balance Act Thursday, Jul 7 The Cup, Cap and Balance Act cuts spending for fiscal year 2012 and caps spending over the next 10 years. These cuts and caps are based on levels contained in Sen. Toomey's 10-year balanced budget proposal (S. Con. Res. 21) and his Cap Spending Act of 2011 (S.1290). In addition, the legislation raises the debt limit by $2.4 trillion contingent on a balanced budget amendment passing in the House and the Senate. Sen. Toomey's remarks are below:(heavily exceprted due to space constraints) That's why I am...

There is broad consensus in Washington that a “balanced approach” between spending cuts, controls, and increased revenue is the only possible way to reduce our $14.3 trillion national debt and avert a Greek-style debt crisis. I share this perspective. As the ongoing debt negotiations advance, members of Congress should evaluate the components of a debt package through one question: Will this make it harder or easier for the American people to create jobs? For my part, I have never met a job creator in Florida that has told me they are waiting for Congress to pass another tax hike before...

Coburn, Toomey: Drop the Policy Riders April 8, 2011 1:03 P.M. By Daniel Foster Here’s Senator Toomey: “I’d like to defund Planned Parenthood, but I understand that Republicans don’t have complete control of the elected government,” Toomey said on MSNBC. “I think what we should do is cut spending as much as we can, get the policy changes that we can, but move on, because there are other, bigger battles that we are fighting.” And here’s Senator Coburn: COBURN: The one thing I’ve learned in my years here is there’s one reason to talk about something, if you want to...

Amid signs that the “don’t raise the debt limit without a deal” crowd is getting stronger, one of the leaders of that crowd, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., gave a speech to the American Enterprise Institute today arguing that fears of a catastrophic default are vastly overblown. Toomey and his allies believe a straight “up or down” vote on raising the debt limit will waste Congress’ last best hope to curb spending.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc9hdIfhv_E] Yesterday, Senator Pat Toomey (PA) was joined by Senators Jim DeMint (SC), Ron Johnson (WI), Mike Lee (UT), and Marco Rubio (FL) in proposing Fiscal Year 2012 Federal Budget that will balance the budget by 2020 with a budget surplus in 2021 without raising any taxes. Read more about the budget here. This budget makes cuts mostly in discretionary spending that will reduce federal spending to GDP from 24% to 18% and publicly-held debt from 69% to 52%. The budget does not tackle the mandatory spending programs of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security like Congressman Paul Ryan's budget. However,...

Club for Growth President Chris Chocola gave six-term Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) some unsolicited advice Tuesday: Retire. Chocola, a former Congressman from Indiana who served in the House from 2003 to 2007, told ABC’s “Top Line” that his fiscally conservative organization is considering getting involved in Lugar’s 2012 re-election campaign in the Hoosier State. The club has already met with Lugar’s primary opponent, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R). “We are looking at that race very closely,” Chocola said. “We do have some concerns about Sen. Lugar and his service. We think it would probably be best if he would retire...

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is a ripe target for a Tea Party challenge as she runs for re-election next year. She won't be able to count on support of all of her Republican colleagues -- at least not Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. Asked directly in an interview with Jonathan Karl's "Subway Series," "Will you be endorsing Sen. Snowe?" Toomey had this to say: "Look, I think this is a very dynamic environment and probably almost every Republican senator's going to face a primary challenge." While Toomey said he won't be supporting Snowe, he won't oppose her either. "I'm not going...

Ten Republican senators are warning Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that they will block any bills that do not address fiscal issues until the current impasse on spending is resolved. "While there are many issues that warrant the Senate's consideration, we feel that the Senate must not debate and consider bills at this time that do not affirmatively cut spending," reads a letter signed by the group of 10. "We, therefore, are notifying you of our intention to object to the consideration of any legislation that fails to directly address this crisis in a meaningful way." The letter was...

The Neanderthal and Mama Grizzly have negotiated a truce. This week, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and fellow Republican superstar Sarah Palin got into an Internet-inflamed spat, but their feud appeared to end Thursday afternoon, as Mr. Santorum explained that they "had an exchange" through an intermediary. "There is no problem between Sarah Palin and me on that issue," he said following his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, meeting in Washington....

Conservatives believe Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) used a weekend trip to woo star GOP freshmen away from the Tea Party. McConnell took Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) on a high-powered weekend trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan that is being seen as a ploy by the leader to secure allies for forthcoming legislative battles. The visit gave the freshmen firsthand access to world leaders and Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, as well as plenty of quality time with their party leader in the Senate. The...

Sen.-elect Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) believes Sarah Palin would have shot at carrying his home state. Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if the former Alaska governor - assuming she becomes the 2012 Republican nominee for president - could win Pennsylvania, Toomey allowed, "It is possible."

Senator-Elect Pat Toomey has just issued a statement supporting repeal of “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell.” “As I’ve said previously, my highest priority is to have the policy that best enables our armed services to do their job,” Senator-Elect Toomey said. “Our civilian and professional military leadership have now spoken and said we should repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I would support a free-standing measure to do so.” If Majority Leader Reid keeps his word, the freestanding repeal measure passed by the House yesterday will be voted on in the Senate in the lame duck, before Sen.-Elect Toomey is seated. Still, the...

When Pat Toomey went to Washington as a U.S. representative in 1999, a Democratic president and Republican congressional leaders were at one another's throats, causing some to wonder what such a divided government could possibly accomplish. So when Sen.-elect Toomey, R-Lehigh County, returns to Washington in January, it probably won't take him long to become acclimated. Toomey, 48, in an interview Friday with the Tribune-Review, expressed a willingness to work with the White House but remains skeptical of the Democratic administration's motives. He says President Obama needs to change course. "We're spending too much. People want to focus on economic...

*snip* Compare this with the House campaign body, the NRCC. After getting clobbered over the NY-23 race and Dede Scozzafava, the NRCC took a hands off approach and let local voters choose their candidates. Not the NRSC. It doubled up around the country igniting a civil war with the grassroots — a civil war that would have never happened but their getting into Florida and doubling down. The NRSC’s argument amounts to telling the world that voters exercising their right to pick their candidates are stupid and Jim DeMint is stupid for siding with the voters. One final thought —...

A decade ago, Democrats dominated in Westmoreland County, holding a large voter registration edge and controlling nearly every state and county office. Fortunes have shifted so dramatically that after Tuesday's election, even Democrats have a tough time envisioning many wins in the party's future. "I don't think in the short term they can turn it around," said Tom Ceraso, a former Democratic county commissioner.

Those numbers from Philadelphia did not look good at all, and a ripple of alarm went through the war room late Tuesday. More Democrats than forecast had turned out to vote in the city, so aides to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey reworked their spreadsheets, looking for the path to victory. At 10 p.m., Democrat Joe Sestak was holding a sizable lead in the closely watched contest - until, bit by bit, Republican areas reported in with better margins than the Toomey team could have hoped. In the end, the Republican had an unassailable lead of 77,437 votes out...

Republican Tom Corbett handily won the governorship last night beating Democrat Dan Onorato. The unofficial tally with 53 districts -- 40 in Philadelphia and 13 in Delaware County -- to go was 2,136,683 votes to 1,783,581. With Republicans retaining control of the state Senate and winning the state House, Pennsylvania can make the elephant its official mascot for at least the next two years. The senate race was much closer than expected and not called until after midnight when Democrat Joe Sestak conceded to Republican Pat Toomey. The unofficial tally as of midnight was 1,993,704 votes for Toomey to 1,916,284...

Way to go Pat, Spector finally gets his reward.

Breaking: Toomey wins PA Governor's Race

Sestak is doing much worse than I anticipated; Kirk looks like he may squeak it out but Toomey may be a goner. What happened?

Democrats in Pennsylvania have spent all day hyping reports of higher-than-expected turnout in Philadelphia and other blue strongholds. But less than an hour before polls close, we're getting other estimates, and they paint to a more difficult path for Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak in his Senate race against Republican Pat Toomey. The poll-watching group Committee of Seventy says only a couple wards in Philly have so far reported turnout exceeding 30 percent — a far cry from predictions by city Democratic Party boss Bob Brady that turnout would surpass the 2006 election.

SQUEAKER IN PENNSYLVANIA: An exit poll by CNN has Pennsylvania's Republican nominee for Senate, Pat Toomey, winning 51 percent of the vote, over Rep. Joe Sestak's 49 percent.

The polls opened at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Because it was a short ballot, results may come in more quickly than usual. ... The first results are expected at around 8:30 p.m. "If the turnout is heavy in the middle of the state, it's going to be very good for Republicans. If the turnout is heavy in Philadelphia, it will be good for Democrats," Allegheny County Republican Committee Chairman Jim Roddey said. "The numbers that we were looking for for a good day for our candidates have been met -- if not exceeded -- statewide," Allegheny County...

ACORN is not dead. In fact it is working hard in Pennsylvania to elect Joe Sestak and other Democrats to Congress. To stay out of the media spotlight this year, ACORN converted its Pennsylvania chapter into two new nonprofit corporations. The two tax-exempt affiliates are Pennsylvania Neighborhoods for Social Justice (PNSJ) and Action United. Both nonprofits filed their incorporation documents in January. Both groups operate out of ACORN's offices at 846 North Broad Street in Philadelphia. The two "new" ACORN groups have been very active in the current election cycle.... Inside ACORN sources say PNSJ has been conducting a get-out-the-vote drive...

Marist released its latest polls for races in four states yesterday evening, and the news looks good for Republicans — perhaps most in Pennsylvania, where the GOP could use some good news. After polls showed the races tightening in the Keystone State for Senate and governor, Marist now shows Pat Toomey with a seven-point lead over Joe Sestak with just a few days left. Tom Corbett likewise has a seven point lead over Dan Onorato, with both Republicans crossing the 50% marker. Toomey leads 52/45, with only 2% left undecided in the race. Corbett has a 51/44 lead with 4%...

Republican candidates vying to win Democratic-held Senate seats have inched ahead in two once-deadlocked states and are in virtual ties in two others, four new McClatchy-Marist state polls found Friday. The polls, taken Oct. 26-28, showed the Wisconsin and Pennsylvania Senate races leaning Republican, while Washington and Colorado remain tossups. "These are states where Democrats are at best struggling for their political survival," said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Republicans are mustering serious challenges in each state by riding the same voter trends: dissatisfaction with the economy and frustration with the...

HARRISBURG (AP) — An effort by Gov. Ed Rendell to jump-start negotiations on a tax on natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale formation produced no movement Wednesday after legislative leaders responded to his call for counterproposals. The Democratic governor reacted forcefully and blamed Republicans, suggesting the already remote prospects for a deal before he leaves office at the end of this year had become even less likely. “I am extremely disappointed in the Senate and House Republicans for failing to provide any reasonable compromise on a severance tax rate,” Rendell said in a statement. “Not only have they broken...

In his final push against Republican Pat Toomey in the Pennsylvania Senate race, an advertisement from Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak features a bag of feces collected from his family dog. Sestak swings the bag into the trash can, and equates it with the policies of his opponent. Toomey’s response to this ad is more moderated at a recent campaign event in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. With that advertisement as the baseline, though, it’s hard to think of a response that wouldn’t seem measured. “The DCC is spending more money attacking me with lies and dishonest ads than they have in any other...

Tracking Poll: Toomey 48%, Sleestak 40%

New polling in three key states shows the GOP on track to hold one seat, pick up another, and perhaps remain within striking distance of an upset. In Pennsylvania, where Democrat Arlen Specter got forcibly retired in a primary, Pat Toomey leads by seven in a new Franklin & Marshall poll among likely voters — and leads by two in a larger group of registered voters as well. F&M says that claims of a Democratic surge in Pennsylvania were unfounded: Pennsylvania appears to light up noticeably red ahead of Tuesday’s voting in the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races, according to...

New polling data indicates that Pennsylvania Republican Senate hopeful Pat Toomey has regained the lead he held for months, thanks largely to continued strength among independent voters. After Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak closed the gap recently to take a narrow lead in the competitive race, Toomey surged back ahead this week, according to the state’s two largest polling institutes. A Franklin & Marshall College survey released Wednesday morning showed Toomey leading by seven points among likely voters, 43 percent to 36 percent. That finding substantiated movement in the Muhlenberg College daily tracking poll, which swung 11 points in the span...

Bye-bye, blue state? It looks that way, unless Democrats can crank up voter enthusiasm to match that on the Republican side. Toomey's lead extends to seven points among those more likely to vote, according to poll director G. Terry Madonna.

(Alexandria, VA) – As Pennsylvania Senate candidates Pat Toomey and Joe Sestak try to define their differences to voters, at least one difference can be measured in dollars and cents: according to a line-by-line analysis from the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), many tax dollars separate the federal budget platforms of the two hopefuls. Sestak would boost outlays by just over $100 billion, while Toomey would cut them by about $2.5 billion, though both have made many campaign promises whose costs or savings are unknown.

After falling three points behind Pennsylvania Democrat Joe Sestak in the race for the state’s Senate seat last week, Republican Pat Toomey now leads 48-40 percent, a Morning Call/Muhlenberg College Tracker poll shows. The poll, which tracked daily voter sentiment for the past seven days, shows a swing of support for Toomey in the final weeks before Election Day. The survey showed both candidates evenly locked at the end of last week, but Toomey pulled ahead after the candidates’ debate Friday night. Twelve percent of those polled said they were still undecided. http://www.scribd.com/doc/40147962/2010TrackingRelease-7-October26 The lastest Real Clear Politics average has...

And while Mr. Toomey rightly expresses concern about the growing national debt, he seems to think it is solely the result of decisions by President Barack Obama, with help from Mr. Sestak and other congressional Democrats. He contended that earlier decisions slashing taxes while conducting two hugely expensive wars constituted sound policy, for example. Mr. Toomey is not, like former Sen. Rick Santorum, an ideological flamethrower. Yet on policy matters he probably is even more conservative than Mr. Santorum and most other current members of Congress. Mr. Sestak's views are shaped by his military career, during which he rose to...

For those who are worried about Pat Toomey’s sudden slip in the polls in Pennsylvania — and I was among them — you’ll want to read this analysis from “Number Cruncher,” a finance/political junkie who spends even more time breaking down polls than I do. Your readers should calm down. This race isn’t that close, or even closing. The only thing closing is the pollsters’ prediction of who to consider a likely voter. Looking at the Quinnipiac results, I find them very encouraging for Toomey, specifically among Independents. Taking the Quinnipiac crosstabs and applying 2004, 2006, 2008, and my predicted...

Allentown – As expected, Congressman Sestak lobbed one dishonest attack after another in order to try to run away from his extreme record of voting for every single bailout, record-breaking debt, hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax increases, a cap-and-trade energy tax, and government-run health care. But the truth is catching up with him. FALSEHOOD: Pat Toomey voted for the largest deficits in history. TRUTH: Actually, Joe Sestak voted for the largest deficits in U.S. history. Over his four years in Congress, Joe Sestak voted for $3.3 trillion in new deficit spending. In contrast the cumulative budget deficit...

If the two internal Democratic polls, the Public Policy Polling survey and the Morning Call/Muhlenberg College tracker weren't enough evidence that the race for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania is tied, Quinnipiac University is out this morning reaffirming it. Released Friday morning, the poll finds Democrat Joe Sestak and Republican Pat Toomey in a statistical dead heat, separated by just 2 points. Toomey is leading Sestak 48 percent to 46 percent among likely voters.