Toomey yet ‘to be persuaded’ about Trump

It seems about every 30 minutes that the campaign of Democratic US Senate candidate Katie McGinty sends a release taunting her opponent Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey about his party’s presidential nominee. What does he think of Trump’s treatment of the Khan family? What about those 50 security experts who think Trump is dangerous. Does Toomey think he’s fit to be commander in chief?

Toomey has been cagey about the T-problem so far, neither endorsing him nor ruling it out, and it seems to me, avoiding talking about it in front of microphones (he issued his most thorough statement on it so far with a newspaper op-ed piece).

So when Toomey held a news conference yesterday on immigration issues, he knew he’d be asked about it, and he was.

“There are things [Trump] has said, a number of things he has said and done that give me great pause, and I have significant concerns about,” Toomey said, “so I remain in a mode of waiting to be persuaded.”

I asked him about the policy experts who condemned Trump. He didn’t bite, saying his posture is the same.

Another reporter asked what he thought about Trump’s statement that the “Second Amendment people” might be able to do something about Hillary Clinton. Toomey said it was at a minimum, a “very careless expression.”

It’s an uneasy place for Toomey to be, obviously. He needs to appeal to moderate and independent voters, some of whom are appalled by Trump. But there’s a risk to turning his back on Trump too.