Who knows whether this is for real or not -- and if it is, it's probably a Philadelphia-area thing -- but Democrats are increasingly claiming that Joe Sestak's climb up the polls has been assisted by the Democratic base's horror at Constitution-bumbling, finger-jabbing GOP candidates in neighboring states.

The HuffPost advanced that theory yesterday ("When President Obama and Vice President Biden did a joint campaign appearance in Delaware last Friday, the high-ranking operative said, it was with an eye towards showcasing "the O'Donnell rise" in "the Philadelphia media market.") and so does Ed Rendell, quoted in a WSJ in an op-ed about the Toomey campaign:

"Toomey's a good candidate who doesn't appear to be a wacko. But Toomey gets hurt every time Christine O'Donnell opens her mouth."