The trolling of Dr. Oz: Satire and snark take center stage in Pennsylvania Senate race
ERIE, Pa. — When Dr. Mehmet Oz announced last fall that he would run for the U.S. Senate as a Republican here, he had a built-in advantage most first-time candidates don't: fame.
The celebrity television doctor, after all, had been in many voters' homes for years.
But since Oz narrowly won the May GOP primary, his Democratic opponent has sought to turn his celebrity into his greatest political weakness.
John Fetterman, Pennsylvania's burly, 6-foot-9 Democratic lieutenant governor, known for his wardrobe of baggy Carhartt sweatshirts and tattoo-covered arms, hardly meets the stereotype of a social media maven. But his campaign has wielded the weapons of satire and snark on the internet, and off, to turn Oz's residency and wealth into a focal point of the race, using tactics that could be cut from the writers' room of "Veep."
He's hired a plane to fly a welcome-home banner over the beach in New Jersey, where Oz resided for decades before moving to Pennsylvania ahead of his Senate run. He's released
