A GOP Senate Recruit to Challenge Casey?
Pennsylvania Republicans are encouraging a wealthy businessman from the North Hills suburbs of Pittsburgh to consider running for U.S. Senate in 2012.
A GOP Senate Recruit to Challenge Casey?
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
Pennsylvania Republicans, stymied so far in efforts to land a big-name challenger to Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in 2012, are recruiting a wealthy Pittsburgh-area businessman who may be able to fund part of a campaign himself.
Keith Loiselle of Wexford, Pa., a prominent GOP donor who made a fortune with a medical technology company he built from scratch, has been entertaining pitches from party operatives and leaders, who squired him around last weekend’s state committee meeting in Hershey. The approach was first reported by Politico.
Several likely-suspect recruits have demurred, including Republican U.S. Reps. Jim Gerlach and Charlie Dent. The CEO of Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods, Ed Stack, was calling Republicans to sound out the race in March, but since has made no moves to organize a campaign.
Loiselle grew up in the scruffy East Liberty section of Pittsburgh, worked his way through college, and later started CDL Medical Technologies, a provider of imaging devices such as CAT scans for hospitals and medical practices.
More than a decade ago, he sold the company for millions and spun one of its divisions into CDL Nuclear Technologies, which provides cardiology stress-testing equipment.
Loiselle is early in doing “due diligence” on a possible race and has not made a decision, according to a people familiar with his thinking.
State GOP Chairman Robert Gleason has argued that the race against Casey is winnable, considering the bad economy, worries over federal debt, and the voter backlash against some Obama administration policies.
The freshman senator had middling job-approval numbers (44 percent) in the latest statewide survey, by Quinnipiac University in April. Most incumbents in any office have bad approval numbers these days, however. And many Republicans believe that Casey, an anti-abortion Democrat and son of a former governor, will be hard to beat because he’s personally liked and higher turnout in a year with President Obama on the ballot will favor Democrats.
So far, Mark Scuringi, a former staffer to ex-Sen. Rick Santorum, is running for the Republican senatorial nomination, and state Sen. Jake Corman of Centre County is said to be mulling it over.
If you run someone with a pulse they will beat Casey - that guy has done squat since he got elected but vote the way he is told to vote. He won becasue of his last name only - but he is not even 1/20 of the leader his father was. He voted for Obamacare so his "anti-abortion" stance is a joke as well.— reddog44- Alfred E. Newman would be able to beat Casey. At least that guy is someone you can mad about.— junethe4th
Comment removed.- Who is Bob Casey? Only the largest single vote-getter in Pa. history. No biggie. Bob may quiet in D.C., and most elsewhere for that matter, but he can be very effective.— DJR
- Please name 3 things Bob Casey has done while a US Senator. Anyone . . . Anyone . . .? Bueller? Bueller?— otterstratton
- Bob Casey cosponsored repeal of DADT, supported the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007, he voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009,[7] and he voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010— DavidAG
- Please don't tell his voting record on four of over 300 issues. What has HE done? I'm all for the quiet leader in the corner, but simply to vote along party lines - D or R, is not progressive or a contribution.— Taranis
Gleason sucks as GOP Leader a LIBERAL— Kevinmac- Comment removed.
- Geez, that "Bueller Bueller" thing just keeps getting funnier and more clever, no matter how many hundreds of times it gets repeated. Otter, you should hook up with the "dumbocrat" guy for a nice game of canasta.— 1980
- kelprod, please tell me you're joking. In this day and age, who do you see out there in either party who's doing anything other than toeing the party line? Hey, I could use a laugh -- do me a favor and make the case for Pat Toomey as a trailblazing independent.— 1980
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
