Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell  (D) has been Governor for the past eight years. After his reelection in 2006 Rendell has seen sinking approval ratings partly due to the budget deficits that have faced Pennsylvania for the past few years. In the current election, the Republicans selected Tom Corbett, a Pennsylvania Attorney General and former United States Attorney.  Corbett has been endorsed by former Governors Richard Thornburgh, Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker. Dan Onorato is currently the Allegheny County Chief Executive and was nominated by the Democrats.  The election is fairly one sited with Corbett in the lead from every pool since February and has a Real Clear Politics average lead of 13.2. This election is likely to go Republican.

Arlen Specter is a five term senator and has represented Pennsylvania in the Senate since 1980. On April 28, 2009 Specter announced that he would be changing parties to become a Democrat. After doing so he was a key vote in passing Health Care Reform and received endorsement of President Obama to help Specter win the Democratic primary. On May 18, 2010 Specter was defeated by Joe Sestak who was endorsed by President Clinton and is a former three star Vice Navy Admiral and a member of the United States House of Representatives.

In the general election, Joe Sestak (D) is running against Pat Toomey(R). Toomey is a graduate of Harvard and has a great deal of private sector experience. Sestak has raised $5,502,849 and Toomey has raised $10,305,798. Over the past five months the polls have swung back and forth but within the past three weeks Toomey has jumped out to a Real Clear Politics Average lead of 8.5.