Biden warns Oz wants to undo ‘everything we have done’

Cami Mondeaux

October 21, 08:18 AM October 21, 08:18 AM

President Joe Biden warned voters that Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is running for Senate in Pennsylvania, would support “undoing everything we have done” if elected to Congress, criticizing the candidate for several of his policy standpoints.

During a campaign event on Thursday as Biden was stumping for Democratic candidate John Fetterman, the president used the rally to denounce who he refers to as “MAGA Republicans” — meaning GOP candidates who have centered much of their campaign on former President Donald Trump.

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“It’s a choice: What direction do you want to see this country going?” Biden said during the event. “The folks running this party are the MAGA Republicans. … They have a very different view about the government role.”

Biden’s comments echo previous sentiments in which he attempted to knock Trump-backed candidates ahead of the midterm elections, decrying “MAGA Republicans” during a speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in late August. The president went on to criticize Republicans in Congress for failing to back some of his legislative proposals, lamenting that “not a single Republican” voted in favor of reducing prescription drug prices as part of a provision in a COVID-19 relief bill earlier this year.

Instead, Biden praised Fetterman, lauding his stances on strengthening gun control measures and codifying abortion rights into law.

“I want to be standing next to big John when he wins because, John, you have character, pal, and it matters,” Biden said.

Fetterman is set to face off against Oz in November as the two battle to replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat. The race has been considered one of the most competitive of the midterm cycle as it will help determine which party gains control of the Senate come November.

Midterm Memo: Republicans aren't the only ones with questionable Senate candidates

David M. Drucker

October 20, 07:00 AM October 20, 07:00 AM

To borrow a phrase from former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party didn’t “send its best” when it nominated a slate of general election candidates to compete for the Senate majority in the midterm elections.

But the GOP’s struggle with candidate quality in Arizona and Georgia, some might say Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire — others might throw in North Carolina — is nothing new as we pass the three-week point until Election Day. Lesser discussed are a couple of clunkers nominated by the Democrats who might cost them an opportunity to hold their 50-seat Senate majority despite the political headwinds the party is having to deal with.

I’m talking about Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman and Wisconsin’s Mandela Barnes, both of whom were elected lieutenant governor of their respective states in 2018.

Barnes, 35, is dynamic and likable. He’s acquitted himself well in debates with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and is raising tens of millions of dollars for his campaign. But Barnes is also a liberal hard-liner with a recent history of criticizing law enforcement and suggesting support for reducing police budgets.

All of this in a bona fide swing state, in a year that could see a red wave sweep Democrats from power across the country, at a time when crime is spiking in Milwaukee and Wisconsin is still feeling the sting of the 2020 Kenosha riots and 2021 Waukesha Christmas parade massacre. It’s no wonder Johnson has led in eight of the last 10 polls dating to early September.

Fetterman, 53, has his own soft-on-crime problems to deal with, courtesy of his staunch support for granting clemency to convicted criminals, including some in jail for murder — not inconsequential in Pennsylvania, another legitimate swing state with rising crime in its biggest cities.

But if Dr. Mehmet Oz defeats Fetterman and holds this open seat for the Republicans — Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) is retiring — it might not be so much a case of Democrats nominating the wrong candidate as being saddled with some ill-timed bad luck.

For all of Fetterman’s vulnerabilities — on crime, his association with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), President Joe Biden’s low job approval ratings — his outsider hoody-and-cargo-shorts-wearing everyman persona plays well in Pennsylvania, especially considering Oz just emigrated to the commonwealth from New Jersey. All of this might have helped Democrats flip a sorely needed Republican seat and protect their majority had Fetterman not suffered a stroke and been saddled with a difficult recovery that is still ongoing.

Fetterman might yet still win — he continues to lead in the polls.

But Oz has been steadily gaining on him as voters question whether he is physically and mentally up for the job of being a senator. And Fetterman has bizarrely allowed those questions to fester by not being more transparent about his recovery and physical and mental capacity and doing more — in public appearances, interviews with reporters, and otherwise — to reassure voters that he is prepared to hit the ground running when the new Congress is sworn into office in January.

With that in mind, Tuesday’s debate with Oz in Harrisburg could be the decisive moment of the campaign. Now, to the field …

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By the #s:

Colorado Senate race. The Centennial State is one where Republicans are looking for an upset or two should the party experience particularly good fortune in the midterm elections. In other words, all signs point to Republican gains Nov. 8. But if the red wave is really big, Republicans are hopeful it will sweep Democrats from power in Colorado, a reliably blue state since President George W. Bush won there in 2004.

The exception? Republicans captured a Senate seat there in 2014, a midterm election year that featured a GOP wave.

But fresh polling from the Democratic firm Global Strategy Group suggests 2022 will not be like 2014, at least not in Colorado. Per a survey of registered voters conducted Oct. 6-11, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) led Republican challenger Joe O’Dea 50% to 35%, with that margin decreasing only slightly, to 49% to 38%, when screening for the voters most likely to participate in the contest.

Meanwhile, Trump this week more or less urged his loyal voting base to oppose O’Dea, who is trying to overcome the partisan challenges of running in a Democratic state by moderating his tone and keeping his distance from the former president. In a post on Truth Social, the Twitter-like social media platform he founded, Trump called O’Dea a ”RINO” — a Republican in name only — saying, “MAGA doesn’t vote for stupid people with big mouths. Good luck, Joe!”

New York governor’s race. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) still trails Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in the Empire State. But in four of five polls conducted this month, Zeldin has trailed the incumbent by less than 10 percentage points. Indeed, he was down to Hochul by a mere 4 points in a survey from Quinnipiac University conducted just last week.

Perhaps the polling is off. Perhaps Hochul is suffering from the fact that she is in the midst of her first general election campaign for governor. She was the lieutenant governor and became New York’s chief executive last year after Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace. Or perhaps Zeldin is picking up more support than Republicans have lately in deep-blue New York because of rising crime and other issues fueling the possibility of a red wave in November.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Hochul was garnering just under 50% and led by just 6.2 points in the RealClearPolitics average. Consider that in the context of the fact that Biden, in 2020, outpaced Trump in New York by more than 23 points, capturing 61% of the vote.

2024 watch. Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), who has made no secret about his consideration of a presidential bid, hosted an “ideas summit” in Bentonville, Arkansas, on Wednesday, dubbed "America Leads."

Hutchinson’s viability in a Republican primary is questionable. The governor was a chairman of Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign in Arkansas but since then has been periodically critical of the former president for his handling of the post-election period and Jan. 6, 2021. That, and his civil approach to politicking, could be challenging in an era in which the GOP base continues to hold Trump in high regard and want politicians who are combatants.

But Hutchinson is continuing to make the rounds nationally to figure out if there might be a path for him. And this week, as a part of that effort, he welcomed national GOP figures to Arkansas for his summit. Among the featured speakers were former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

By the way, who else joined Hutchinson onstage at the summit? Sarah Huckabee Sanders, virtually assured of succeeding Hutchinson in the governor’s mansion early next year.

White Dwelling punts on inquiries about Fetterman's health and fitness right before Biden pay a visit to

W. James Antle III

October 14, 10:11 PM October 14, 10:11 PM

The White Home declined to answer queries about Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s wellbeing Friday, stating only that President Joe Biden was on the lookout forward to showing next week with the Democratic nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania.

Fetterman confronted new questions about his healthcare condition following a media job interview showed him applying a laptop or computer to reply a reporter’s queries. The reporter later on said that she was doubtful Fetterman could fully grasp her when they talked beforehand.

White Household push secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained to reporters that Fetterman, who is recovering from a stroke, is “someone that [Biden] definitely respects, and they have a marriage."

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Biden is scheduled to surface with Fetterman on Thursday. The two campaigned together on Labor Working day previous month.

But the president’s campaign schedule has involved couple stops in swing states with the most competitive Senate races. Republicans only will need a net acquire of a single seat to retake the at the moment 50-50 chamber, which is less than Democratic command due entirely to Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote.

Jean-Pierre took issues about Fetterman though the president was flying from California to Oregon. Each are reliably blue states, although they every single function some at-chance Democratic candidates this year.

Fetterman is locked in an increasingly restricted race with Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, a medical doctor and television individuality who has been endorsed by previous President Donald Trump.

Biden frequently mentions his Pennsylvania connections as a Scranton native no issue where is talking. He gained the point out by a slim margin in 2020, but Trump narrowly carried it in 2016, which proved vital to his defeat of Hillary Clinton.

Some have decried the reporting on Fetterman’s health-related situation as discriminatory against the disabled, comparing it to disqualifying from the Senate persons who rely on wheelchairs or even eyeglasses. But the Fetterman camp has been criticized for a lack of transparency about his well being due to the fact he suffered the stroke.

A reporter famous that Biden, who will transform 80 right after the election and has faced issues about his own actual physical ailment, has suffered from mind aneurysms.

Jean-Pierre would not explore Fetterman’s health and fitness or the Senate campaign. She regularly does not answer election-linked inquiries from the podium, citing Hatch Act considerations, while she will broadly assault Republicans and problem supportive statements about the Democratic agenda.

Biden’s top rated spokeswoman has been especially outspoken about “MAGA Republicans” trying to find to restrict abortion due to the fact the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a significant marketing campaign problem in the midterm elections.

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Biden’s impending excursion to Pennsylvania could be browse as a sign that he is becoming significantly less toxic in the battleground states, despite the fact that his work acceptance ranking is continue to underwater by around 10 details at just 43.2% in the nationwide RealClearPolitics polling common. Or it could be an indicator that Fetterman is in difficulties in his race from Oz and needs any help he can get revving up Democratic base guidance.

The night Jean-Pierre faced issues about Biden and Fetterman, the two main party Georgia Senate candidates debated. That’s another close race in a state exactly where Biden eked out a 2020 win but has yet to show up in the latest weeks to campaign for Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA).