Results tagged “democrats”

Pennsylvania is an increasingly Democratic state. In 2004, Kerry won the state by a hair; Obama won it with a handy ten percent lead. In 2004, twelve of nineteen Keystone Congressmen were Republican, as well as the two Senators. Now, eleven representatives and the junior Senator are Democrats. In 2004, there were roughly 500,000 more Democrats than Republicans in the state; during the extended primary last year, that lead expanded to well over a million. To Republican Pat Toomey, however, that's clearly not enough. For this reason—at least, it's the only reason that makes any sense—he announced yesterday that he's considering a primary run against Arlen Specter.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Classical Values blames the Democrats for the economic crisis because they forced banks to give low interest mortgages to minorities in the name of socialism. Ummmmmm, ok?

Usually I can muster a good chuckle at the tendency of the mainstream media to trumpet shock over substance in its campaign coverage, but last night's debate only made me angry. Here's why: watching them with me was a bona-fide undecided voter, the likes of which I haven't seen in a long time.

Last night was obviously good for Pennsylvania Democrats, but precisely how good remains to be seen. They can claim already Rick Santorum's Senate seat, at least three--and maybe four--Congressional seats, and five state House seats. Locally, Democrat Patrick Murphy seems likely to pick up Pennsylvania's Eighth District with a razor-thin lead over Mike Fitzpatrick, but Fitzpatrick has yet to concede. In the Seventh District, Curt Weldon lost as expected to Vice Adm. Joe Sestak, putting an end to the career of a man listed in Rolling Stone as one of the worst members of Congress. Rep. Jim Gerlach looks to hold onto the Sixth District, although Phillyist notes that his lead has shrunk consistently since first being elected in 2002. We can only assume that a stiff breeze will suffice to knock him out of Congress in 2008.

Like most of you, I'm sure, Phillyist has been gratified to see Sen. Rick Santorum make the long, occasionally hilarious journey to the private sector. Bob Casey has led in the polls since the race began, the national GOP is already planning on a loss in Pennsylvania, and Santorum himself is pinning his last hopes on the critical WWE Smackdown contingent. Meanwhile, when the GM told Lynn Swann to make a Political Aptitude check, the dude didn't exactly roll a natural twenty.

- Are local Dems concerned about the proliferation of untried candidates running for office? Albert Yee thinks so. Here's why.

Pennsylvania politics are just downright entertaining. If politicians aren't voting themselves gigantic pay raises in the middle of the night, then Philly city council members and various political wonks are being indicted. If state reps aren't calling each other 'crackers', then gubernatorial hopefuls are firing their campaign managers for referring to the African-American candidate as ''the rich white guy in the campaign.'

Justice Sunday III came and went in Philly yesterday, and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum had the chance to rub elbows with darlings of the religious right like Jerry Falwell. After Senator Santorum's shimmy to the left on issues like Intelligent Design and the death penalty, Phillyist wondered if he would continue to reach out to those not in his conservative base.

Of course, if that leads us to do our own research on candidates to wade through the bullshit, well...that's not such a bad thing.

We're number one! We're number one! For election fraud, anyway.

The gargantuan pay raise Pennsylvania lawmakers voted for themselves is controversial at every turn. Who knew giving yourself a raise of $11K in the dead of night could cause such a hullabaloo?

Junior Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is looking at quite a fight in next year's mid-term election. He's currently trailing likely Democratic opponent Bob Casey, Jr. (son of much-beloved, longtime PA governor, Bob Casey) by nearly 14 points in a Quinnipiac University poll. Possibly defrauding the Penn Hills school district, Santorum's incredibly unpopular opinions about the right to privacy and the right of government to make our medical decisions for us, his public declaration of support for full Amtrak funding which he promptly voted against, and that time Santorum blamed the liberals for causing Catholic priests to diddle little kids...well, none of that helps him. However, pollsters indicate that Santorum's flagging support is "because Santorum is too aligned with some of the White House's flailing policies." Enter the new, softer side of Rick Santorum. It began in March with a poll that showed Catholics were increasingly becoming anti-death penalty. Santorum immediately backtracked on his own hardcore support of the death penalty. And now Santorum has begun a campaign in earnest to prove to Pennsylvanians -- indeed, the whole country -- that he really isn't a hypocritical liar bent on allowing government to butt into every aspect of our lives. Instead, he's a lover of animals and children and veterans, concerned about the fiscal well-being of all Pennsylvanians, even at the risk of alienating his bosom buddy, President George W. Bush.
• Despite voting against every single attempt to add money to the Veterans Administration fund to pay for healthcare (Democrats had been fighting for more funding since Spring), Santorum all of a sudden became the chief backer of additional funding for the VA. See, he really does support the troops! Now maybe he can get them some body armor.
• On Tuesday Santorum introduced a bill to eliminate the telephone excise tax, that 3% tax added onto your phone bill. 3%! Why, that's a whole $1 or $2 per month! That savings would have been severely offset, however, if Santorum's minimum wage bill had been approved.
• Santorum has now decided to appeal to our love of animals by taking on the puppy mills. We guess this goes hand in hand with his new found respect for life for those in prison.