* It’s indicative of widespread anxiety among Pennsylvania Republicans that Barletta is headed toward defeat, and could take the down-ticket with him. Half-dozen Republican insiders in Pennsylvania, most requesting anonymity in order to speak candidly, echoed in some fashion or another the complaints of Mustio and Taylor.
* Some Republican insiders say Barletta, never a prodigious fundraiser, hasn’t put in the work. Other Republicans say Barletta is mistakenly relying on Trump for cash. According to knowledgeable sources, Barletta took the president too literally when he wooed the congressman to run for Senate by committing to raise him millions from his loyal supporters.
* “He’s looked at this thing pretty naively. Lou’s is not known as the hardest worker in the world and has never been a prolific fundraiser. He thought that simply by branding himself with Trump, it would mean tons of cash. That’s not been the case,” this Republican said.
Washington Examiner: Pennsylvania Republicans vent frustration with Lou Barletta’s Senate campaign
By David Drucker
Republican officials in Pennsylvania are fretting that Rep. Lou Barletta’s anemic fundraising and strategic misfires are jeopardizing the party’s opportunity to pick off a winnable Senate seat in the midterm elections in a state President Trump captured 14 months ago.
Barletta’s fourth quarter report is expected show around just $550,000 raised, Republican sources say. That’s a paltry figure for a candidate in a high profile contest — especially after Trump personally recruited Barletta and anointed him the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.
In an email exchange obtained by the Washington Examiner, two senior Republican members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives vented frustrations about Barletta and discussed their preference for long-shot GOP Senate candidate Jim Christiana.
The lawmakers — state Rep. Mark Mustio, from suburban Pittsburgh district and chairman of the Republican state house campaign committee, and state Rep. John Taylor, representing suburban Philadelphia since 1985 — worried Barletta’s strategy could sink the GOP in Southeastern Pennsylvania and jeopardize their power in Harrisburg.