By Ben Griffiths, Contributing Writer
It appears that Southeastern Pennsylvania is firmly in Patrick Murphy’s corner, after the Philadelphia Democratic Committee and its chairman Rep. Bob Brady announced their endorsement of him Wednesday.
The endorsement comes a week after Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and District Attorney Seth Williams also threw their support behind Murphy’s bid for Attorney General – giving the candidate a huge endorsement edge in a city that accounts for around 17 percent of the statewide democratic vote.
“The Philadelphia Democratic City Committee is going to do everything we can to make sure Patrick Murphy is our next Attorney General,” said Brady in a statement. “Patrick took on terrorists in Baghdad courtrooms, so he’s clearly shown that he’s tough enough to take on criminals here in Pennsylvania.”
Murphy released a statement thanking Brady and the committee for their support.
“I’m honored to earn the support of Congressman Brady and the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee,” said Murphy. “Over the years, I’ve worked closely with Congressman Brady, and I can honestly say there is no one more dedicated to the people and city he represents than the Congressman.”
With Pennsylvania’s largest Democratic committee now backing him along with Democratic organizations in Delaware and Chester counties, Murphy has seized control of the southeastern part of the state.
This is bad news for Kathleen Kane, a former Lackawanna County prosecutor, who stood to benefit from a divided southeast part of the state.
No candidate mustered the sufficient two thirds for an endorsement by Democratic state committee in mid-January – in large part because the southeast Pa. vote was split between Murphy and former Philadelphia prosecutor Dan McCaffery. McCaffery dropped out of the race last week.
That said, Kane has a significant ($1 million) advantage over Murphy. Her family has contributed or loaned more than 2.25 million into her campaign thus far – plenty of cash to increase her name ID.
In a statement to PoliticsPA, Kane spokesman Daniel McElhatton dismissed the Brady endorsement.
“In light of today’s report that Congressman Murphy is trailing Kathleen Kane in cash on hand by over a million dollars and that he trails her by 16% once voters are given a short summary of their backgrounds, it is likely Congressman Murphy appreciated the news that he was endorsed by one of his former colleagues.”
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12 Responses
Murphy is a lap dog for the establishment… the people who you’d wish would go away permanently, but won’t.
Good for Kane running. She is a better statewide candidate than Murphy.
The Kane family thinks they can buy the seat. Not going to happen.
I didn’t know that Murphy was a prosecutor in the United States? But I saw that comment and looked it up… he was actually an assistant United States Attorney. Prosecuted child abuse cases, drug cases etc. And that is on top of teaching law at West Point, doing free clinics in Harrisburg, prosecuting military law in Bosnia and convicting terrorists in Baghdad.
Wow.
What people seem to keep leaving out is the fact that Murphy was a professor of constitutional law at West Point and an Assistant United States Attorney.
So… just some more things to keep in mind.
Yes Kane did support Hilary in the primary and because her dog in the race didn’t win she flips and supports a Republican? Kathleen Kane supporting John McCain is totally unacceptable in my book and shows a lack of class and character on her part.
If your side loses in a primary then you support the nominee of your party you don’t jump ship to the other side. Don’t expect Democrats to come out support you in a primary when you have history of supporting Republican Presidential nominees in a general election.
Kane has donated a ton of money to democrats. You fail to mention that.
Kane probably supported Hillary in the primary (someone w more experience)
Both Patrick Murphy & Kathleen Kane appear on-paper to have excellent credentials for the AG job and at first it seemed as if this was going to be a tough choice for me. That was until I found out that Kathleen Kane had supported John McCain in 2008…DEMOCRATS LIKE THAT MAKES ME SICK TO MY STOMACH!!!
So if Kane wins the primary and is on the general election ticket with President Obama will she then endorse Mitt or Newt in 2012? Its a fair question considering that she supported McCain in the past.
If it weren’t for these Blue-Dogs (who in reality are in the closet Republicans/tea-baggers) then Democrats would maintain control of every statewide seat in PA. But these idiot Blue-Dogs who reside in the redneck parts of the state continue to undermine PA’s Democratic Party with their foolishly conservative (errrrr…racist) values.
As a Democrat I intend to support the most progessive candidate who is proud of being a liberal. Therefore if you’re a Democrat who is pro-life, anti-gun control, hates all things related to government spending, and consider yourself to be a “moderate” then please do us “REAL DEMOCRATS” a favor and go join the Republican Party or be a Libertarian. And if you’re a Democratic Candidate like Kathleen Kane and you’ve been known to support Republicans (like she supported John McCain in 2008) then I hope you pay for your ignorance and never get elected as a Democrat.
I support Patrick Murphy 100% because unlike Kathleen Kane at least I know that Murphy won’t support a Republican Presidential nominee.
Kathleen Kane = The Joe Lieberman of PA = A Traitor to the Democratic Party
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065139/posts
Ironic bob Brady endorses on groundhog day. Weasels Getting all the attention today.
Murphy never sat for the PA Bar Exam. He wants to be the top lawyer in the Commonwealth and he avoided taking the PA bar in favor of taking the Bar exam in Minnesota. Why Minnesota? Murphy makes up some story about how “they report their results sooner”. Baloney. He took the Minnesota bar because it was one of the easiest exams (85% pass rate) in the country and PA was one of the most difficult (65%).
Ohhh those are intelligent considerations for an office you know very little about. You so impress me.
He is definitely the HACKs choice. If I was Kane I’d let him speak on issues of law and take questions first at forums so he cannot copy her answers.
he looks friendly, and a pretty nice tie. I’ll vote for him
I hear the Delaware County endorsement was a sham…a deal cut in a smoke-filled backroom.
I have heard alot of spin about terrorist prosecution-can we get some facts of how many “terrorists” he allegedly prosecuted in Baghdad?
And how many times in his illustrious legal career has Congressman Murphy actually prosecuted an American Citizen, or stepped into a courtroom and represented anyone other than himself on a parking ticket? Let’s not even talk about Pennsylvania legal experience – we all know that story. Simply put – Pat Murphy is not ready for prime-time.
This office is too important for Democrats to run another amateur.
Sorry Mr. Brady and friends, but a vote for Murphy in the primary is a vote for David Freed in November. Patrick Murphy for AG – a waste of time, effort and money for Democrats!