Luminaries lend hands in Pa. campaigns

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - October 28, 2010

Clinton hopscotched from rallies in Erie to Bethlehem to Norristown to campaign for several of Pennsylvania's many embattled Democratic candidates, among them U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, congressional challenger John Callahan and gubernatorial nominee Dan Onorato.

In Norristown, Clinton told more than 200 people at an afternoon rally that Democratic control in Washington next year will deliver a faster economic recovery than if Republicans take control of Congress.

Speaking to more than 300 people in an Erie International Airport hangar earlier, Clinton repeated the warning he has relayed at scores of political events nationwide. Republicans want voters to get angry and blame high unemployment and deficits on Democrats to usher in a GOP that derailed the economy in the first place back into power, he said.

"The more I got out here, the more concerned I became that the American people were going to vote out of anger and frustration and anxiety ... and get exactly what they do not want, which is what normally what happens when you make poor decisions when you're mad," Clinton said.

Some Republican candidates are leading their Democratic foes in Pennsylvania polls, as they ride a wave of discontent over joblessness and Democratic President Barack Obama, chief among them Senate GOP nominee Pat Toomey.

Toomey, speaking to a small lunchtime crowd gathered outside the Lackawanna County Courthouse in Scranton, urged supporters not to let up in the final stretch and to persuade friends and family to vote Republican.

"I think on Nov. 2 we're going to begin the process of taking back our country, restoring the kind of prosperity that we can have, that we should have," Toomey said. "We've got to get off the track they're on in Washington. We've got the most liberal elected government in the history of the Republic and they're trying to transform America into something like a European-style welfare state."

Clinton, perhaps the Democrats' biggest political star right now, was to head to southeastern Pennsylvania for five events, capped by a nighttime rally at Temple University with Senate hopeful Joe Sestak.

On Thursday afternoon in the Philadelphia suburb of King of Prussia, two Republican governors - Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Bob McDonnell of Virginia - were to speak at a rally for the party's gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett.

That's not all.

Two other Republican governors - Chris Christie of New Jersey and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota - planned to join Barbour on Friday morning to stump for Corbett and Toomey at two small airports in southeastern Pennsylvania before Obama arrives Saturday to fire up Democratic voters at a Philadelphia rally.

On Monday, first lady Michelle Obama will headline a rally in Philadelphia as well, where a heavy turnout by the city's large population of black voters is considered crucial to Democratic victories.

With the potential for the Toomey-Sestak contest to help decide partisan control of the U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania is a testing ground for potential GOP presidential candidates in 2012 - Pawlenty and Barbour among them - while millions of dollars from party organizations and other outside groups pour in to influence the outcome.

Meanwhile, both parties have funneled millions to Pennsylvania's gubernatorial candidates through their governors' associations.

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Mandak reported from Erie. Jackson reported from Norristown. Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam in Scranton contributed to this report.

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