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1 - Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
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Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
GOP Sen. Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
Locked in a tough re-election race, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey says Pennsylvania voters see Donald Trump as a 'category unto himself' and will make a 'completely separate decision' about who they want in the Senate
By ERICA WERNER, AP Congressional Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) — Endangered Sen. Pat Toomey is banking on Pennsylvania voters backing him in November even if they oppose fellow Republican Donald Trump, a ticket-splitting strategy that may help determine whether the GOP can hang on to its Senate majority this election year.
"Pennsylvania voters are really quite sophisticated and they know for sure that Donald Trump is in a category unto himself," Toomey told reporters on a conference call Friday. "So they will make their decision about the presidential race, and then they will make a completely separate decision about the person they want representing them in the United States Senate."
Whether Toomey is right is a key question this year, as Republicans battle to defend Senate seats in battleground states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire and Florida. Trump could lose all those states, along with Nevada, where a Democratic-held seat is vacant; if Republicans can't prevail in Senate races nonetheless, they will lose their Senate majority.
Democrats need a net gain of five Senate seats to retake the majority, or four if they hold the White House and can send the vice president to cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate.
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Polls seem to offer some evidence that voters are distinguishing between Trump and GOP Senate candidates.
In Pennsylvania, Clinton is ahead by mid-to-high single digits, while several polls show McGinty and Toomey very close. In Ohio, incumbent GOP Sen. Rob Portman is also running ahead of Trump.
But in New Hampshire, incumbent GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte got bad news in a WBUR poll this week that showed Clinton taking a big lead in her state, and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan also jumping out to a 10-point lead in the Senate race.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- tennyson
- Exchanger
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Re: Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
The Trump fallout will hurt existing GOP party members running. The question is how much. We will know in a couple of months.
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
- TheLagerLad
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Re: Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
The latest NBC/WSJ poll has McGinty up by 4. The Real Clear Politics average of all polls taken in the last month has Toomey-McGinty in a dead heat.
Still waiting for McGinty to bring some substance to her campaign. It seems so far that she is only attacking Toomey on the single issue of funding Planned Parenthood.
I'm pro-choice and all but there has to be more to this election than that.
It does appear though that it is Trump that is bring down Toomey's numbers. In a state as moderate as Pennsylvania, and one who that has shown that their voters are willing to split their ticket, I think it is time for Toomey to forcefully come out against Trump. Yes, he'll be a pariah in the party for a little while, but he'll keep his seat and he'll nail the coffin on Trump's chances of winning PA.
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
- Just Fred
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Re: Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
McGinty may simply be kicking back and allowing Trump to speak for the Republican Party in which Toomey is a member. Any R-Tribe official up for re-election has to decide whether or not to fall inline behind Trump or break away and show separation from Trump and yet remain a Republican.
If you were lawmaker elected as a Republican and up for re-election, what would you do?
- Rongone
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Re: Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
Just Fred wrote:
McGinty may simply be kicking back and allowing Trump to speak for the Republican Party in which Toomey is a member. Any R-Tribe official up for re-election has to decide whether or not to fall inline behind Trump or break away and show separation from Trump and yet remain a Republican.
If you were lawmaker elected as a Republican and up for re-election, what would you do?
I guess Toomey's decision quandary boils down to his personal integrity, honesty, and dedication to public service . . . Just like any other public servant.
Right? . . . I mean it's not like they're in this line of work for their own personal gratification . . . Right?
- Just Fred
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Re: Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
Ha! Good one, rongone.
- Goose
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Re: Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
It looks like, from polling data that both Toomey in PA, and Ayotte in NH would be wise to distance themselves from Trump, maybe even repudiate him.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- •
Thread Starter- TheLagerLad
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Re: Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
It looks like, from polling data that both Toomey in PA, and Ayotte in NH would be wise to distance themselves from Trump, maybe even repudiate him.
From a campaign perspective, it's a timing issue. Dump Trump too early, and maybe you hurt fundraising opportunities and support from the party. Do it too late, and you seem like you're just trying to save your own skin.
Toomey and Ayotte also need to figure out some math. If they repudiate Trump, they will lose a certain number of votes. The question is do they make up those votes from independents and democrats who find their distance from Trump as something that speak to their character or whatever.
I think they hang in with Trump until the first debate, see where things stand, and if it appears Trump doesn't have a chance to win, then all bets are off and they officially jump off the train.
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
- TheLagerLad
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Re: Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
It looks like, from polling data that both Toomey in PA, and Ayotte in NH would be wise to distance themselves from Trump, maybe even repudiate him.
From a campaign perspective, it's a timing issue. Dump Trump too early, and maybe you hurt fundraising opportunities and support from the party. Do it too late, and you seem like you're just trying to save your own skin.
Toomey and Ayotte also need to figure out some math. If they repudiate Trump, they will lose a certain number of votes. The question is do they make up those votes from independents and democrats who find their distance from Trump as something that speak to their character or whatever.
I think they hang in with Trump until the first debate, see where things stand, and if it appears Trump doesn't have a chance to win, then all bets are off and they officially jump off the train.
Or maybe the RNC itself lets Toomey and Ayotte off the hook at some point
(From an article on the Time website this morning)
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told Donald Trump in a phone call last week that if he doesn’t turn his flailing campaign around, the national party may shift its focus from his candidacy to down-ballot races, according to two GOP officials briefed on the exchange.
The officials said Priebus described to Trump internal party polls that show his campaign headed in the wrong direction. Priebus told Trump that he would have been better off had he spent the days since the Republican convention at his Mar-a-Lago Club, officials said.
Trump denied the officials’ account of the exchange.
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
- Just Fred
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Re: Toomey banking on split-ticket voting in Pa. race
......the national party may shift its focus from his candidacy to down-ballot races.
Actually, probably not a bad decision to make by RNC poo-bahs.