Another headache for Gov. Corbett, meanwhile the Pittsburgh mayoral race takes a turn for the zany. Here are this week’s Ups & Downs.
Tom Corbett. The nice thing about about having so many bad polls in a row, if you’re the Governor, is that each new one doesn’t garner as much attention. The bad thing? The tough reality of your re-election odds. This week’s Quinnipiac showed Corbett under water again and trailing every opponent. Plus this. And then there’s the whole drug test tempest in a teapot that took the Guv 2 days to rebut. Oh, and there are new doubts about Shell’s cracker plant in Pa.
Philly Daily News headline writers/page designers. On a related note, the DN’s cover about Corbett’s drug test comments was priceless.
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Bill Peduto. It had looked like the Democratic nomination for Pittsburgh mayor was slipping away from him. But two developments this week may help turn things around. The first was a new poll that showed him leading Jack Wagner 38%-36%. The second was the revelation that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl was behind anonymous ads against him. All of a sudden Peduto – who went negative first in the campaign – had regained some high ground.
Long Nyquist & Associates. They haven’t done anything against the rules, but no consulting firm ever wants to be the headline – particularly not in a story like this from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Essentially, the Republican firm with deep ties to the state Senate GOP is also lobbying on behalf of UFCW 1776 to block liquor privatization.
Todd Platts. He had hoped to ride off into the sunset after his retirement from 12 years in Congress in January. What better way than to win a seat on the York County Court of Common Pleas? There’s one problem: a contested primary. In July 2012 Michael Flannelly was appointed to the vacant seat for which both men now compete. This week the York County Bar gave Flannelly a “highly qualified” rating while Platts was rated “not presently qualified”. Ouch.
Tweet of the week: Alex Roarty. The National Journal reporter (and former PoliticsPA scribe) on the DN cover:
Why Tom Corbett wishes Pa didn’t have a tabloid paper (or, at least why he wishses so today). twitter.com/Alex_Roarty/st…
— Alex Roarty (@Alex_Roarty) May 1, 2013
Facebook post of the week century: Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
This is epic. After days of mystery about who was funding the anti-Peduto ads in Pittsburgh, the Mayor took to the facebook comments on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website to SLAM his longtime rival as well as the paper.
4 Responses
Hi Maria – I’ll dignify that comment just long enough to deny I’ve ever had any connection to Peduto’s office or campaigns. I’m sorry the fact that I’m an active citizen of my own city offends you. Here, you should enjoy this: http://pghcomet.blogspot.com/2013/05/jack-wagner-more-luke-lets-cut-nonsense.html
Definitely an up for Peduto. Luke involving himself in the race bumps Peduto up in the race. He should just openly endorse Wagner–that will put Peduto up by a landslide.
How in the world is this an up week for Peduto? (Bram, this is for you, since we know all you do is stalk websites all day in order to shill for your messiah/employer)
A polling firm that has only done a poll on foreclosures before says Pedudo is up within the margin of error? Has anyone even bothered looking into this firm?
As for Ravenstahl’s attack, you people are way too inside baseball. For every one person who pays attention to the so-called controversy, 9 will see the ad – and be affected by it. Even if the ratio were 1 to 2, it’s still a hit for Pedudo.
When will the Corbett Team and the PAGOP declare full employment in PA for the 1%?? Mission Accomplished with no tax increase!