Joe Sestek

The second quarter is over and now we wait for the FEC numbers to be released.  But what should we expect?

In the 3rd district Phil English is facing off against challenger Kathy Dahlkemper.  In April English was showing $690k cash on had after raising $282k in the first quarter.   Dalhkemper raised $58k during the same period and had $71k on hand.  This is the make or break quarter for Dahlkemper.  She has been named as a candidate to watch on the DCCC Red-to-Blue program, but another $58k quarter will not get the job done.  For Dahlkemper to be taken seriously by the DCCC she will need to post a number that puts her with at least $250k cash on hand.

Congressional Quarterly has ranked the top 10 congressional candidates that have added the most to their coffers during the first quarter of 2008.  There were 3 candidates from PA who landed in the top 10.  The top PA candidate was Joe Sestek from PA-07 who ranked 2nd in the country.  Sestak increased his cash reserves by $549k.  Fourth on the list was Patrick Murphy from PA-08.  Murphy increased his cash on hand by $487k  while his general election opponent