O Donnell drags down Toomey in PA

Thanks Witchy

(Reuters) - A Senate race in Pennsylvania that could determine whether President Barack Obama's Democrats retain control of the chamber is deadlocked one week before the election, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday.

Democrat Joe Sestak has gained ground on Republican Pat Toomey after accusing him of wanting to export U.S. jobs to China and both candidates are now level on 46 percent.

Republicans are expected to win control of the House of Representatives in next Tuesday's election as voters give low marks to Obama's handling of the sluggish economy.

It is unclear whether the Republicans will be able to pick up the 10 seats needed to win control of the Senate as well.

Pennsylvania, many of whose big industries have been hit in the economic downturn, is one of a handful of close races that could determine the balance of power.

While dozens of Democrats across the country may lose their seats due to the 9.6 percent unemployment, Sestak appears to have turned the issue to his favor.

He has hammered Toomey's support of free-trade policies and even suggested in one advertisement that Toomey "ought to run for Senate in China." Many Americans resent the rapid rise of cheaper manufacturing in China that has cut into U.S. jobs.

Sestak was ten points behind the Republican, a former derivatives trader, in the last Reuters/Ipsos poll in Pennsylvania in late August.

AMERICAN INDUSTRY

"Sestak's campaign made a concerted effort to talk about how they're the candidate who stands for American industry versus Toomey, who stands for Wall Street," said Ipsos senior research manager Chris Jackson. "They have been able to take that particular issue and twist it to their advantage."

In Tuesday's poll, some 48 percent of those surveyed said free trade subjected U.S. companies to unfair competition from cheap labor abroad, while 44 percent said free trade was good because it opened up global markets.

By a margin of 37 percent to 31 percent, voters said Sestak would do a better job than Toomey of keeping jobs in the United States. More voters also said Sestak would be better at dealing with China and standing up for U.S. interests.

Toomey was seen as more likely to balance the budget by a margin of 36 percent to 28 percent. The two candidates were seen as equal on creating jobs in the state.

In the Pennsylvania governor's race, Republican Tom Corbett held a 6-point lead over Democrat Dan Onorato, 49 percent to 43 percent. Corbett's lead has shrunk from the 15-point advantage he held in August in the race to succeed Ed Rendell, a Democrat who is stepping down after two terms.

Pennsylvania voters identified jobs and the economy as the biggest problem facing the state, mirroring results from polls in other states.

Ipsos surveyed 600 Pennsylvania adults between Friday and Sunday, and 400 of those surveyed were identified as likely voters. The survey has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points for likely voters.

YouTube - Belle

PHILADELPHIA -- Democrat Joe Sestak's cheeky TV ad about dog poop has tails wagging in the fiercely contested Pennsylvania Senate race.

In the ad, Sestak compares cleaning up after his family dog Belle to cleaning up the economic mess that he says his GOP rival Pat Toomey and former President George W. Bush played a big part in creating.

"My family loves Belle, but she can make a mess," Sestak says in the ad, which ran for more than a week.

There's a shot of Sestak gingerly depositing a bag of dog doo in a trash barrel.

"It made me sick to bail out the banks, but I had to clean up the mess left by these guys," Sestak adds, with a photo of Toomey and Bush behind him.

Toomey complained Monday that Sestak, a U.S. representative, is using the ad to duck responsibility for his votes on such things as the Wall Street bailout and the economic stimulus package.


"The fact is, Joe Sestak deserves more than his fair share of the blame for this, and nobody but Joe Sestak is responsible for his votes," Toomey said. "I just don't think people are going to be fooled by that."

Every election appears to feature at least one memorable ad that manages to break through the heavy clutter of campaign attack commercials that flood the television airwaves. Pennsylvania Democrats are hoping Sestak's dog ad can propel him to the Senate.

Donald Bradbury, 43, an independent from the Philadelphia suburb of Media who is leaning toward voting for Toomey, said he snickered when he first saw the ad. But he'd prefer it if candidates ignored gimmicks and stuck to the issues.

"No one cares about his dog," said Bradbury, a computer technician.

Mary Walker, 66, a Democrat from the suburban community of Secane and a retired energy company administrator, said while she's sick of all the political ads on TV, she enjoyed Sestak's dog ad.

"That hit home because we've been cleaning up after the Republicans," she said.

The Campaign Group, the political firm that worked on the "Belle" ad with Sestak, also helped produce an ad that played a big role in propelling Sestak past longtime Sen. Arlen Specter in the May primary.

Specter suffered from the perception among Democratic voters that he was a Republican at heart and switched his party registration last year only for personal political gain. The ad struck home by quoting Specter in an apparent boast that his party switch "will enable me to be re-elected."

Sestak said late Monday that his dog ad was effective because it was simple and unique.

"It really broke through for us," he said, adding that the ad has been popular online as well.

Sestak said his campaign was preparing to air a new ad that featured him speaking directly to the camera to talk about accountability

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