percent in October. On October 14, Specter reported he had raised $1.8 million during the previous three-month period, bringing his total to about $8.7 million. The Senator said that he was aided in large part by his September 15 fundraiser hosted by Obama. In that same period, Sestak raised only $758,000, about a quarter million dollars lower than the previous quarter, making his total allocation about $4.7 million. Sestak continued working hard to overcome his name recognition problem, seldom turning down interview requests and asking his staff to work six 12-hour days a week. As a result, Sestak saw a large amount of turnover in his staff, going through nearly half a dozen press secretaries and several chiefs of staff. Sestak called on Specter to participate in six debates, one for each media market in Pennsylvania, but Specter only agreed to participate in one because that was the amount of debates he participated in as a Republican. On December 7, Sestak was endorsed by Congressman Barney Frank, who said that he was impressed by Sestak's leadership on economic and military issues, as well as his positions against the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and the Defense of Marriage Act. The endorsement was important to Sestak because it was the first time a prominent member of Congress broke with the Democratic establishment to back him over Specter. Frank also said of Specter's switching parties, "I have to say I don't think it did our profession any good for someone to announce that he switched parties purely so he could survive." New polls in January indicated voter support was growing for Toomey, who now held a projected nine percentage point lead over Specter and an eight-point lead over Sestak. Specter continued to lead against Sestak in the Democratic primary poll, this time by a 21-point margin. Some political scientists believed Toomey's gain over Specter could be attributed to voter distrust of establishment candidates and growing dissatisfaction with the health care proposal pending in Congress. However, some Democratic leaders felt Sestak's challenge to Specter was having a detrimental effect not only to Specter but to the Democratic party in general and their prospects for ultimately winning the general election. This feeling was enhanced by the growing national support for the Republican party, and especially by the unexpected victory of the Tea Party-backed Republican Scott Brown in a special election for a traditionally