DOWN – Joe Sestak. Time to come clean, congressman. Even your fellow Democrats think so.
*** UPDATED*** Still a down arrow. All this time, and it was just “an advisory position?!”
**UPDATE 2*** UP/DOWN for the White House – The Friday-before-Memorial Day semi-admission is a little transparent, no?
UP – Major Garrett, Fox News’ WH correspondent, asked President Obama the question every Pennsylvanian was waiting to hear at the White House news conference yesterday. Sure, the answer was a complete sidestep from the President and nothing different than what Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has (frustratingly) repeated, but at least the question was asked.
UP – Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-8), a military veteran himself, did what many thought was impossible, and successfully led the effort within Congress to repeal the arcane “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy banning gays from open military service. Not bad for a sophomore legislator. The congressman will need the good publicity to hold off a challenge from Republican Mike Fitzpatrick in a race some are calling a “toss-up.”
UP/DOWN - An on-time budget? Many lawmakers in session this week, publicly at least, acknowledged there’s a genuine determination among them to approve a state budget on time this year and avoid last 101-day-delay debacle. Frankly, it would be politically stupid to repeat last year’s catastrophe. But while legislators were saying the right things publicly their actions indicated a standstill may yet lie ahead. House Democrats tabled indefinitely a scheduled vote on a $350 million tax package Tuesday and then Wednesday, meaning the politically sore subject gets kicked down the road until at earliest when they return to Harrisburg June 7.
DOWN - Philadelphia. With Jonathon Saidel’s losing his battle for lieutenant governor this week, it’s official: Democrats won’t have a single candidate on the ballot from the state’s biggest city this fall. With Philadelphia turnout always key to the party’s chance of winning, that could a blow to the party’s chances in what promises to be an already tough year. But that said, if the city of Brotherly Love wants to continue to represent itself at the polls far less than the rest of the state as it did in the primary, maybe Democrats are better off focusing their efforts elsewhere.
WAY UP – Maryanne Laager. We save the best for last. PoliticsPA’s beloved D.C.-based editor is signing off this week after three years as the incredibly dedicated part-time Sy Snyder. We’ll miss the Web site’s version of Katharine Weymouth and her always snappy rejoinders on this very feature, but we have to applaud the sanity of anybody who wants to do something outside of politics. Of course, with the departure of the bilingual Laager goes any hope of PoliticsPA Reports … en espanol. Que lastima.
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How do we reconcile Sestack’s defiant refusal to work with the Democratic Party in the issue of keeping his Congressional seat and biding his time while a distinguished public service completes his career on his own terms with the late influx of MoveOn money to deface the candidate then expecting the Dems to back him? If his closed-minded response to the Party establishment is any indication, we have low expectations of Joe’s ability to serve “the families of Pennsylvania.” He spent his life as an independent and has yet to demonstrate respect to the Party that gave him his Congressional seat. You’d think he was a twenty something instead of a mature, responsible former military professional. What a rash, go it alone, Bush-type he proves to be.