Pittsburgh P-G endorses Sestak: "toughest challenger to Toomey"

[Divernan]

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2016/04/13/Joe-Sestak-for-the-Dems-He-d-be-the-toughest-challenger-to-Pat-Toomey/stories/201604300027

Joe Sestak for the Dems: He’d be the toughest challenger to Pat Toomey

Democrats who want a formidable challenger to take on U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey in November should nominate the person who nearly beat the Republican six years ago: former congressman and three-star admiral Joe Sestak.

Mr. Sestak, 64, spent two terms in the House after a 31-year career in the Navy that was capped by service under President Bill Clinton as a defense policy adviser. In 2010, after defeating newly minted Democrat Arlen Specter for the party nomination, he narrowly lost the general election to Mr. Toomey — by just two percentage points in a year that Republicans were ascendant. The Delaware County resident has spent the last several years crisscrossing Pennsylvania, denouncing an obstructionist Republican Congress, defending the merits of the Affordable Care Act and seeking a rematch with Mr. Toomey.

Like other candidates, he believes that creating jobs must be Washington’s top priority. He also wants a strong homeland defense, new investment in infrastructure and a ban on fracking — a position that the Post-Gazette, which supports tough regulation of deep gas drilling, wishes he would reconsider. He endorses the Iranian nuclear accord and condemns the Trans-Pacific Partnership on trade, although he’d like to see a “principled compromise.” His voting record on Capitol Hill earned a 100 percent rating from the Sierra Club and a zero from the National Rifle Association.

Of the leading pair for this key nomination, both of whom have had distinguished careers in public service, one (McGinty) can showcase her high-profile political allies and the other can highlight his independence, his call for accountability and his promise to restore integrity in government. If this is truly the year of the political outsider, the Democrats’ best bet for the U.S. Senate is Joe Sestak, who has earned the Post-Gazette endorsement.

This endorsement joins that of the state's largest newspaper, the Phillie Inquirer on the other side of the state.

Will the $1.5 million the DSCC just recently pumped in to this primary for false, lying ads attacking Sestak, trying to destroy his 16 point lead in polls, let them buy the primary? Not if major newspaper endorsements have anything to say about it! The press are also calling out McGinty's campaign for blatant lies about Sestak's voting record!

The Philadelphia Inquirer's editorial included the following reasons for endorsing him:
“his willingness to put principle above party”

“the best credentials and experience to immediately serve Pennsylvania and the nation”

“he can maneuver beyond partisan politics to help the middle class rebound from years of stagnant wages”​

“Sestak’s refusal to be put into a partisan box”

“a deep understanding of government and foreign policy that Katie McGinty and John Fetterman cannot match.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion

/20160410_Inquirer_editorial__Sestak_is_the_better_choice_for_Democrats.html

And just to remind you all, in 2010 Sestak lost to Toomey by only 2 %, despite it being a year when the GOP swept congressional races across the nation, and DESPITE THE FACT THAT TOOMEY OUTSPENT SESTAK 4 TO 1.
In that primary, for the first time ever, the DSCC gave over a million to a primary candidate, Arlen Specter and not one red cent to the primary winner, Joe Sestak, in the general election. This year they're pulling the same shit - giving $1.5 million to a primary candidate which should have been made available to whichever Dem. wins the primary.

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1. K&R