ICYMI: Where in the world is Dr. Oz? [POLITICO]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

POLITICO: Where in the world is Dr. Oz?
By Holly Otterbein
July 7, 2022

Key Points:

• Mehmet Oz is trailing in polls. A key Republican has yet to endorse him since the celebrity doctor won the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania Senate more than a month ago. And Oz has gone dark on the airwaves since May 21 — even as his Democratic rival John Fetterman burnishes his brand on TV as a political outsider, and paints Oz as a carpetbagger from New Jersey.

• This is not the general election kickoff in a pivotal Senate race that Republicans were hoping for.

• The shaky start to Oz’s general election campaign, coming off a hard-fought primary that took a recount to resolve, is prompting finger-pointing in Pennsylvania’s GOP circles.

• “I don’t have much confidence in their campaign,” said Arnie McClure, chair of the Huntingdon County Republican Party. He said he’s been in contact with Oz’s team but hasn’t received answers to multiple queries.

• “[Oz] came in a distant third in my county, so I called them up and said, ‘You need to talk to our people to change their mind and our mind and I’ll help you do that.’ And I don’t even hear back. What the hell?”

• Some in the GOP are worried that Oz is wasting time that he should be spending making a positive case for himself on the airwaves, especially after a bruising primary in which his opponents spent tens of millions of dollars in commercials going after him.

• Oz’s unfavorable rating is 50 percent, while 28 percent view him favorably, according to the Suffolk poll. Fetterman’s favorable-unfavorable rating, by contrast, is 45-27. The same survey showed Fetterman ahead of Oz in a head-to-head race by nine points.

• “A lot of people in the GOP — both the establishment and local Pennsylvania GOP — underestimate Fetterman,” said Sean Parnell, a former Republican Senate candidate who dropped out of the 2022 race amid a child custody battle in which his estranged wife alleged abuse. “This is a guy that has on the left what Donald Trump has on the right. He’s got a very strong populist appeal that doesn’t just appeal to base Democrats.”

• Oz hasn’t yet won over all of his former opponents. Kathy Barnette, a conservative commentator who came in third in the GOP primary after a late surge, has not yet endorsed Oz.

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