Every week, PoliticsPA will give you a taste of the buzz, rumors and gossip floating around Pennsylvania’s political wags. This week we talk Toomey’s non-endorsement decision, Sam Rohrer putting an exact number on his fundraising goal, Corbett’s reform plan and why all efforts to find candidates to replace John Murtha might be for not.
After receiving the state Republican Party’s official support Saturday, Pat Toomey revealed that although he supports the attorney general, he will not endorse Tom Corbett in his race against state Rep. Sam Rohrer.
The move would seem to have potential for sparking inter-party griping among Republicans who might think the now establishment-choice candidate should back the party ticket. After all, an endorsement from Toomey would give Corbett’s conservative credentials a boost and help quell the challenge from Rohrer, who is trying to outflank the attorney general on his right.
Some Republicans contacted by PoliticsPA hadn’t heard of any anger over the neutrality, but one Republican ally of Toomey did say the former congressman was being “hammered” by some party leaders to back Corbett.
The party’s leadership, however, did say all the right things after Toomey announced his decision, with Chairman Rob Gleason saying it was the Senate candidate’s own business whom he endorses.
The Sam Rohrer campaign has tried its best to make supporters feel important, teaching them how use blogs and Twitter on the candidate’s behalf and even building a public Web site that talks about strategy and tactics. For a candidate relying almost exclusively on grassroots support right now, treating volunteers like honorary strategists and spokesmen makes sense to keep them involved.
Rohrer’s senior strategist, Jeff Coleman, took another step forward on that front Saturday. Although some campaigns are guarded when discussing how much money they need to win, Coleman told about 400 supporters — not to mention about 10 members of the media — the exact amount the campaign required for victory: $2.5 million.
The campaign is a lean operation right now, he said, but defeating a strong front-runner like Attorney General Tom Corbett, who had received the state GOP’s endorsement just hours earlier, still takes money. Many strategists peg the cost of running statewide TV ads at $1 million a week.
Speaking of Corbett, the attorney general said over the weekend that he is preparing a reform agenda to be sent to the legislature within the first week he takes office. Included in the still-developing platform is reducing the state’s fleet of vehicles and reforming the legislature’s per-diem system, which gives lawmakers more than $100 each time they make it to the Capitol – paid in addition to their salary.
The per-diem plan didn’t thrill many sitting lawmakers, according to John Brabender, Corbett’s senior strategist.
“Let’s just say we didn’t get any fruit baskets from legislators,” the veteran campaigner said.
All the behind-the-scenes action from Republicans and Democrats to find candidates for the late John Murtha’s congressional seat might be meaningless in three years, as PoliticsPA publisher Larry Ceisler points out in a recent Tribune-Review piece.
Everybody expects Pennsylvania to lose a congressional seat after redistricting, and Ceisler points out Murtha’s district was on the chopping block in 2002. With him gone, there’s little reason to think lawmakers will keep it around … unless Republicans win control of the state House, governor’s residence and 12th District seat. In that case, maybe the party tries to get a little creative.
Tags: Pat Toomey, Pat Toomey endorsement, Sam Rohrer, Special election 12th Ditrict Murtha, Tom Corbett
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