宾夕法尼亚州共和党参议员候选人穆罕默德·奥兹博士面临着来自他的对手、民主党副州长约翰·费特曼的大量攻击，但许多攻击不同寻常地集中在一个话题上:奥兹一直住在哪里。
几十年来，正如Fetterman的运动很快指出的那样——在迷因和社交媒体上，并通过他们聘请的前真人秀明星制作有关它的视频——Oz住在价值数百万美元的房子里他仍然拥有，俯瞰新泽西州的哈德逊河。
“我听说你从新泽西搬到宾夕法尼亚去找新工作，”妮可·拉瓦勒，在MTV的“泽西海岸”中更为人所知的“史努基”，在一个视频上个月被费瑟曼的营地释放，地址是奥兹。“我知道你离开了家，来到了一个新的地方，但泽西岛不会忘记你的。”
脚镣人被拉了类似的特技演员兼音乐家史蒂文·范·赞特凭借《黑道家族》和E街乐队名声大噪，他的竞选团队出资买了一架飞机飞越新泽西海岸，飞机上的横幅上写着“嘿，奥兹博士!欢迎回到新泽西州!爱你的，约翰。”
他的团队说，Oz在宾夕法尼亚上了医学院并结婚，他在2020年末搬进了他妻子家在费城郊区Bryn Athyn的房子。据竞选发言人布列塔尼·亚尼克(Brittany Yanick)说，他和妻子仍住在那里，等待他们最近在镇上购买的房子进行翻新。
“宾夕法尼亚州是他的家，除了必要的州外筹款旅行，他几乎把所有时间都花在那里，”Yanick本月在ABC新闻的一份声明中说。
她没有回答关于费特曼声称奥兹在他新泽西的家中拍摄了一个竞选广告的问题;她也没有回答任何问题关于一份报告奥兹在六月赢得初选后去了爱尔兰。
奥兹本人告诉美联社本月早些时候，“人们并不真正关心我来自哪里。他们关心我的立场。”
尽管如此，关于他的根源的喋喋不休——大部分是在社交媒体上——并没有减少，部分是因为他自己的评论:本周，每日野兽刊登了一段视频他在一次竞选活动中停止说他拥有两套房子，而公共记录显示他在多个州和国家拥有10处住宅。
据《每日野兽报》报道，美国广播公司尚未获得该视频，该视频是由一名民主党竞选活动人员拍摄的，他似乎没有透露自己的身份，也没有告诉奥兹他正在被拍摄。
在周三的一份声明中，亚尼克说奥兹指的只是他在宾夕法尼亚州的家。奥兹在2004年表示支持一条推特回应费瑟曼:“我有10套房产(公布时已披露)。2个家。轮到我了:我们什么时候可以辩论?”
他的女发言人说:“奥兹医生住在布林阿森，他目前住在他结婚时住的房子里，而他们买的房子正在装修。他指的就是这两处房产。”
一直以来，费特曼都在试图讽刺奥兹是精英和脱离现实的——不仅是因为他对自己家的最新评论，还因为一个月前的视频，最近重新浮出水面，显示奥兹在杂货店购买蔬菜。在视频中，奥兹似乎混淆了两家当地连锁杂货店的名称(Redner's和Wegmans)，因为他读出了食材的价格，试图展示通货膨胀的影响。
“在宾夕法尼亚州，我们称之为……蔬菜托盘，”费特曼发微博。他的竞选团队表示，在视频于周一疯传后的24小时内，他们筹集了超过50万美元。
羁绊男称奥兹为闯入者。奥兹称其为无事生非，并有自己的攻击路线，包括试图将费瑟曼与不受欢迎的总统乔·拜登联系起来，并指出费瑟曼长期公开缺席中风后康复。奥兹的团队公开了一个运行中的“地下室追踪器”
由费瑟曼推动的攻击让人想起候选人之间关于谁更可信的常见争论。这些批评是否会让选民远离这位外科医生和前脱口秀主持人，这是一个悬而未决的问题。
“这是一个因素，[但]不是主要因素，”77岁的爱德华·乌尔里希告诉美国广播公司新闻，他是匹兹堡郊区的一名注册民主党人，自称是前分裂票选民。
自称温和派的保莉特·基弗“选择最好的候选人”，她说她认为奥兹参选是出于自私的原因。
“我不认为他应该在这个州竞选，”她告诉ABC新闻。"我不相信他代表这个州是真诚的。"
与此同时，本塞勒姆52岁的注册共和党人温迪·萨德勒(Wendy Saddler)表示，她对候选人与新泽西州的关系并不感到不安。
“我相信他的意图是真诚的，”她告诉ABC新闻。
A福克斯新闻频道民意测验7月底公布的宾夕法尼亚州登记选民调查发现，超过一半的受访者担心奥兹对该州不够熟悉，无法代表该州。调查还发现，45%的Oz支持者对他持保留态度。
但是在今年，民主党在选举中面临他们自己的主要阻力-在高通货膨胀中，拜登的低支持率以及对经济和国家发展方向的持续担忧——一些专家认为，对奥兹的担忧不会阻止共和党人在今年秋天投票给他。共和党正在努力争取每一次胜利，以夺回对国会的控制权。
Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz, shakes hands with supporters at The Capitol Diner, on Aug. 12, 2022, in Swatara Township, Pa.
肖恩·斯默斯/爱国者-美联社新闻
费城的共和党顾问乔希·纳沃特尼(Josh Navotney)告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，称费瑟曼太进步了。“软支持说到底还是一票。一票就是一票。”
“如果这个(福克斯新闻频道)民意调查是在9月下旬进行的，而共和党人还没有回家，我会更担心，”纳沃特尼补充道。
在接受美国广播公司采访时，多名当地共和党领导人表达了类似的乐观态度。
“我不认为这对我们的选民来说是个大问题，”巴克斯县共和党主席帕特里夏·波普里克说。“当你问他们时，他们可能会回答，但这并不妨碍他们留下来和我们一起忍受。”
摇摆县北安普顿的党主席格伦·盖辛格(Glenn Geissinger)告诉美国广播公司(ABC)新闻，“我对[奥兹]是宾夕法尼亚人这一事实感到非常舒服，”他补充说，在他所在的县的一次竞选活动中，奥兹“谈论了人们真正关心的事情。”
盖辛格说，在最近的一次活动中，奥兹面对“几个诘问者”，他们告诉他“回新泽西去”，但他补充说，“更多的人看到他很兴奋，喜欢和他在一起，并和他合影。”
奥兹的竞选活动也希望损害费瑟曼作为国家民主政策的一张面孔，奥兹说这已经损害了宾夕法尼亚州的钱包。
奥兹竞选团队出资制作的两个新广告称费特曼为“激进分子”，并将他与拜登和伯尼·桑德斯联系在一起。
“约翰·费特曼的竞选活动可以制造迷因，但他找不到与关心灾难性的拜登-费特曼议程的选民见面，”女发言人亚尼克告诉美国广播公司新闻。
Where Dr. Oz lives becomes a campaign issue in Pennsylvania Senate race
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, has faced the usual amount of attacks from his opponent, Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman -- but a lot of it has been unusually focused on just one topic: where Oz has been living.
For decades, as Fetterman's campaign is quick to point out -- in memes and on social media and through former reality TV stars they've hired to make videos about it -- Ozlived in a multimillion-dollar home, which he still owns, overlooking the Hudson River in New Jersey.
"I heard that you moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to look for a new job," Nicole LaValle, better known as "Snooki" from MTV's "Jersey Shore," said ina videoreleased by Fetterman's camp last month, addressing Oz. "I know you're away from home and you're in a new place, but Jersey will not forget you."
Fetterman pulleda similar stuntwith actor-musician Steven van Zandt, of "Sopranos" and E Street Band fame, and his campaign paid for a plane to fly over the New Jersey coast with a banner that read "Hey Dr. Oz! Welcome home to NJ! Love, John."
Oz -- who attended medical school and married in Pennsylvania -- moved in late 2020 into a house owned by his wife's family in the Philadelphia suburb of Bryn Athyn, his team says. He and his wife still reside there as they wait for a home they recently purchased in the town to be renovated, according to Brittany Yanick, a campaign spokeswoman.
"Pennsylvania is his home and where he spends practically all of his time other than necessary out of state travel for fundraising," Yanick said in a statement to ABC News this month.
She did not respond to a question about Fetterman claiming Oz had filmed a campaign ad from his New Jersey home; nor did she answer a questionabout a reportthat Oz traveled to Ireland after winning his primary in June.
Oz himselftold the Associated Pressearlier this month, "People don't really care where I'm from. They care what I stand for."
Still, the chatter about his roots -- much of it on social media -- has not abated, in part because of his own comments: This week,The Daily Beast published a videoof him at a campaign stop saying he owned two homes, when public records indicate he owns 10 residential properties across multiple states and countries.
According to The Daily Beast, the video, which has not been obtained by ABC News, was filmed by a Democratic campaign operative who does not appear to have revealed his identity or told Oz he was being filmed.
In a statement on Wednesday, Yanick said Oz was referring only to his Pennsylvania homes. Oz seconded that ina tweetresponding to Fetterman: "I have 10 properties (disclosed when I announced). 2 homes. My turn: when can we debate?"
His spokeswoman said, "Dr. Oz lives in Bryn Athyn, he's currently living in the same house he was married in while the property they bought is undergoing renovations. Those are the two properties he was referring to."
All along, Fetterman has been trying to lampoon Oz as elitist and out of touch -- not just for the latest comments about his homes but also a months-old video, recently resurfaced, showing Oz grocery shopping for crudités. In the video, Oz appears to mix up the names of two local grocery chains (Redner's and Wegmans) as he reads off the prices of ingredients in an attempt to showcase the effects of ballooning inflation.
"In PA we call this a … veggie tray," Fettermantweeted. His campaign said that it raised over $500,000 in the 24 hours after the video went viral on Monday.
Fetterman calls Oz an interloper. Oz calls it much ado about nothing -- and has his own lines of attack, including trying to tie Fetterman to the unpopular President Joe Biden and noting Fetterman's prolonged public absence whilerecovering from a stroke. Oz's team has publicized a running "Basement Tracker."
The Fetterman-fueled attacks echo familiar fights between candidates about which one is more authentic. Whether the criticism will steer voters away from the surgeon and former talk show host is an open question.
"It's a factor, [but] it's not the predominant factor," Edward Ulrich, 77, a registered Democrat in the Pittsburgh suburbs who calls himself a former split-ticket voter, told ABC News.
Paulette Keiffer, a self-described moderate who "takes the candidate that is best," said she believes Oz is running for selfish reasons.
"I don't think he should be running in this state," she told ABC News. "I do not believe he is sincere in representing this state."
Meanwhile, Wendy Saddler, a 52-year-old registered Republican in Ben Salem, she said was unbothered by the candidate's ties to New Jersey.
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"I believe that he's sincere in his intentions," she told ABC News.
AFox News pollof registered Pennsylvania voters released in late July found that more than half of those surveyed were concerned that Oz wasn't familiar enough with the state to represent it. The survey also found that 45% of Oz backers had reservations about him.
But in a year in which Democrats on the ballot face major headwinds of their own --amid high inflation, Biden'slow approval ratingsand enduring woes about the economy and direction of the country -- some experts believe concerns about Oz won't keep Republicans from voting for him this fall. The GOP is pressing for every victory as it seeks to reclaim control of Congress.
"There are so many Republicans that will come home with him," Josh Navotney, a Philadelphia-based Republican consultant, told ABC News, calling Fetterman too progressive. "Soft support is still a vote at the end of the day. A vote is a vote."
"I'd be more worried if this [Fox News] poll was taken in late September and the Republicans hadn't come home yet," Navotney added.
In interviews with ABC News, multiple local Republican leaders expressed similar optimism.
"I don't see it as a big issue with our voters," said Patricia Poprik, the chair of the Republican Party in Bucks County. "When you ask them, they might answer, but it doesn't stop them from staying and bearing with us."
Glenn Geissinger, the party chair in the swing county of Northampton, told ABC News, "I'm very comfortable with the fact that [Oz] is a Pennsylvanian," adding that at one campaign stop in his county, Oz "talked about the things that people really care about."
Geissinger said that at a recent event, Oz faced "a couple hecklers" who told him "to go back to New Jersey," but he added that "a lot more were excited to see him and enjoyed being with him and got pictures with him."
Oz's campaign is also looking to damage Fetterman as a face for national Democratic policies that Oz says have hurt Pennsylvanians' pocketbooks.
Two new ads paid for by Oz's campaign call Fetterman "radical" and link him to Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"John Fetterman's campaign can make memes, but he can't find to meet with voters concerned about the disastrous Biden-Fetterman agenda," Yanick, the spokeswoman, told ABC News.
