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2012 Ups & Downs

Another election is in the books. See who had a good year in 2012, and who wishes the Mayans were right.

Republicans. For the first time in decades (at least), the party lost every statewide office in Pa. this year. It’s a testament both to the Dem state party’s efforts to reorganize after 2010 as well as the boon that is Philadelphia. The President, Senator Casey and the row office candidates made it look easy. The GOP also had its biggest slip in the Pa. Senate in years. They held the line in the state House and expanded their congressional delegation, but the top ticket races made the state look very blue. And that brings us to…

Pennsylvania. A top tier battleground state for a generation, Pa. slid big time in 2012. From June until nearly November, both parties largely ignored the state. Only a final week ad blitz by the GOP and a visit from Mitt Romney helped TV stations cut their advertising revenue losses. And if the Dems nominate Hillary in 2016, it’s very tough to imagine the GOP doing much better.

Incumbents. After three straight years of wave elections, voters finally realized that neither party has a monopoly on overpromising. Only two incumbents lost on election day in November (U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Cambria, and state Rep. Tom Quigley, R-Montco). Just five state reps and one member of Congress lost primaries (two if you count U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire).

Pa. Journalism. Not just one but two Pulitzer Prizes. That’s Pennsylvania’s record in 2012. The Harrisburg Patriot-News won the prize for breaking the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the Philadelphia Inquirer won for exposing violence in city schools. Plus StateImpactPA just won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for its coverage of Marcellus shale development.

Voter ID. The controversial measure was poised to take effect for the November election, but a series of problems on the part of the administration earned it a boot from state judges. At every turn it appeared the state had underestimated the number of voters without ID and hadn’t solved the logistical problems of getting photo ID to citizens. Plus, Democrats took full advantage of the issue to rally their base, especially in the African American community. All that said, Voter ID proponents will have the last laugh. The law is slated to be in place for 2013.

Luke Ravenstahl. It will be hard for any challenger to topple the incumbent mayor when, by most accounts, Pittsburgh is doing pretty well. The Brookings Institution report found the city is one of just three in the country that has fully recovered from the recession. And it’s been racking up accolades like “most livable city” from Forbes. It would be hard for any challenger, but even harder if all three potential opponents get in the race for the 2013 primary.

Legislative Reapportionment Commission. It’s not very often that the Pa. Supreme Court throws out a redistricting plan for state house and senate districts. In fact, it hadn’t happened since the current state constitution was adopted in 1968. But the Court sentenced the five members of the LRC and their staff to months of additional deliberations when 4 of 7 justices deemed the first version of the map divided too many municipalities. The decision, handed down around petition time, threw the entire election into chaos for weeks.

Kathleen Kane. Harrisburg will see lots of new faces next year, but none with the rock star potential of Kane. She shattered 30 years of precedent to become the first woman and first Democrat elected as Pa. Attorney General and won her race with the widest margin of victory of any statewide candidate. If she delivers on her first term as strongly as Democrats hope (and proves to be a sustained headache for Tom Corbett), don’t be surprised to see her land a prime time speaking spot at the DNC in 2016.

8 Responses

  1. If Corbett is in trouble then why isn’t Mark Critz ?

    These guys…. Look what they are doing!!!

    They are no longer men of honor… They don’t follow their own laws… They don’t follow US law… They take away our human rights…

    http://www.citizensagainstmarkcritz.com/

    Sign This!
    http://www.change.org/petitions/armed-forces-committee-both-senate-and-congressional-warn-all-potential-enlistees-of-sexual-assault-problem-in-military

    http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-military-s-rape-problem-20120913

  2. Re: Mayor Luke Ravenstahl

    I dunno! A few more instances of taking 36 hours to clear 3 to 4 inches of predicted snowfall from the roads in PGH during an election year might provide a good reason to elect an alternative. I mean if you’re not taking care of potholes, snow and trash removal – what is the point of being a small city mayor anyways? The rest of our “renaissance” will happen (more or less) independent of local gvmt!

  3. The PA GOP expanded its Congressional delegation through extensive and blatant gerrymandering – Democratic candidates took more votes over all than Republicans even though they ended up losing seats. I don’t know how anyone can look at the PA 7th and not find something very, very wrong about that – it’s only “contiguous” in that at one point it’s connected by a hospital and its parking lot. And that’s only one example. It’s absolutely offensive to democracy. We desperately need redistricting reform.

    http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/nakedcity/How-Republicans-stole-the-House-Legally.html

  4. Corbett is in trouble. No question. The question is whether he is given a free pass by his party to be beaten in the fall or whether anyone in the GOP has the guts to say “enough” and provide a credible alternative. Seems to me this Castor guy has put himself out there at exactly the moment when all forces are coming to bear on Corbett: disastrous election returns for candidates seen as “his”, weakened majority in the senate, Hershey Trust, pay to play gas drilling, PSU investigation drag with their Alums on the warpath, new and energetic AG and Aud. Gen. coming in. This on top of sagging public perception. Corbett, at this point, is a dead man walking.

  5. If either of the two had been in office during these difficult past two tough budget years just what would they have done differently?

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