Ono camp claims "swift boat" tactics

You get the feeling -- at least fans of The Wire might -- that Dan Onorato doesn't have to get locked into a conference room to do fundraising like Tommy Carcetti.

The ever-energetic Democrat's camp issued two fundraising-related emails today -- one saying that it has raised $1 million the past 17 days, and another using an attack by a non-union contracting group to raise money.

The latter pertains to complaints (and a radio ad) from the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. about labor agreements on government building projects. The group is headed by the former chairman of the Republican Party of Allegheny County, and the party (currently headed by Jim Roddey, who Onorato defeated in the 2003 county exec race) was promoting its news conference yesterday.

Onorato's campaign manager referred to the complaints as a "swift-boat" attack against Onorato in a fundraising plea today:

Tom Corbett is at it again.  This time he's borrowing a page from George W. Bush and Karl Rove's political playbook - claiming to run a positive campaign while his allies "Swift Boat" Dan Onorato with attack ads.

For years Tom Corbett has sided with special interest groups over regular people.  This campaign is their opportunity to pay him back - and one of them is already seizing it by running false and misleading attack ads against Dan Onorato on the radio.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Dozens more groups could come in without warning, and we need your help to send them a message.