Senate Race Getting Closer

The Allentown Morning Call is reporting on a new poll showing the U.S. Senate race getting much closer. The Democratic nominee, once shown ahead by 15 points is now ahead by only 45% to 39%. The poll also shows the Swann campaign is dead in the water as he trails 51%- 35%.

I always expected the Senate race would get closer and this poll appears to be showing as much. Santorum has a lot of money to spend and he's using it on paid media extensively. That does two things: gets his message out to voters and burns through much of the financial advantage he's had over Casey. That's the cost: leaving less cash for ads this fall when they'll be crucial.

Casey's history is that he isn't a good closer. Santorum is the opposite. The mystery to me is that with all the screwups, media disasters, and negative campaigning done by Santorum, that he's gaining at all. This can only be ascribed to the pathetic campaign being conducted by Casey's team. Opportunities to sink Tricky Ricky deeper into his hole have been ignored and the candidate is seldom seen in public. He refuses to address issues and answer questions concerning issues. He has no field organization established. He has yet to even appear in my county. Going through his FEC filings almost all his money is coming from lawyers. I saw very few contributions from anyone local and those I saw were token amounts.

Bob cannot hide form the voters until November. He needs to formulate a vision for Pennsylvania and the country and get that message to the voters. He has failed miserably in that department. Does anyone have any idea what he stands for? Simply saying vote for me because I'm not Santorum won't cut it.

I've raised some questions here about his stands on some issues. No response. My friend queried his campaign regarding several issues for an article for this blog and they refused to respond. People don't want an unresponsive Senator. People want someone they can vote FOR, not against. People are very upset about Iraq and Bush's policies. They want a real candidate who will stand up and speak out fervently about these issues and differentiate themselves from the incumbent. It's time for Bob Casey to stand up and take these positions before he loses this election.

I've often said to beat an incumbent you must do two things: give voters compelling reasons to oust the incumbent and then prove to them that you're the solution. You must give them a positive image of how you differ and what you'll do in office to better their lives. The voters' natural tendency is return an incumbent. Casey has to counter that by getting out to the voters, not the contributors, and listen to them and their concerns. Then he has to craft those concerns into a compelling message. He hasn't done that. (does anyone have a clue what his message is?) It should have been the first thing he did as a candidate. I fear now it's too late.