To say the DSCC’s 2016 strategy of anointing a candidate in key senate races and expecting the locals to just get out of the way has backfired would be an understatement. In Illinois, DSCC recruit Tammy Duckworth is facing a tougher primary than she might otherwise have due to local pushback prompting other Democrats to enter the race.
Then there’s Pennsylvania. Remember when national Democrats were begging someone – anyone – to run against Joe Sestak because he was such a weak and erratic candidate? Things were looking up when former gubernatorial candidate Katie McGinty finally agreed to get in the race. Her campaign even got a shot of Keystone state star power when former Gov. Ed Rendell signed on as chairman.
Unfortunately for the DSCC, the best day of McGinty’s campaign was the day before she became a candidate.
Since her launch, she’s been all but invisible on the campaign trail and local Democrats have been questioning why the national party was so eager to back McGinty, who came in a distant last place in her race for governor, over Sestak, a former two-term congressman. Rendell has been more focused on attacking Hillary Clinton than helping McGinty, and a new round of polling indicates that McGinty wouldn’t fare any better than Sestak in the general election.
And now Sestak is putting McGinty in a tough spot on the Iran nuclear deal, which has become a toxic issue for Democrats trying to avoid taking a position. He suggested an America Rising tracker ask McGinty about her position:
And then went farther an an interview with Politico:
In an interview, the former two-term Democratic congressman said it’s inexcusable that McGinty hasn’t taken a stance and offered this advice: “Read the agreement.”
“Those who are running for an office that has anything to do with this [nuclear agreement] should have a position on this by now,” he said, saying candidates and politicians owe it to voters to make their positions known.
McGinty will eventually have to decide if she’ll side with her party and President Obama and support the deal, or with over 60 percent of Pennsylvanians who oppose it. Either way, it’s clear that the McGinty camdidcay has failed miserably to live up to the hype.