Tom Smith. Can you say “top tier”? The coal industry veteran and former Tea Party leader loaned his campaign $750,000 this quarter, vaulting him to the top of the primary field and demonstrating that he has the resources to make a deep run at the nomination. The big number sets the bar for Tim Burns and Steve Welch, the two most recent Republicans in the race who have also boasted their ability to help fund a campaign.
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Harrisburg. No one will be raining on the city’s parade this year, because the parade has been cancelled due to lack of funds. This legislature passed and Gov. Corbett this week signed a bill to usher in a state takeover of city finances, and things are not likely to look up for the Pa. Capital City for some time.
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Bill Vinsko. The Wilkes-Barre attorney and congressional challenger had a strong fundraising quarter, bringing in a total nearly equal to that of incumbent Rep. Lou Barletta (who put aside fundraising for flood response). $80K is a pittance in a general, but in this likely-to-be-a-top-national race, all he has to do is win the primary and the big money will pour in. We’ll see if Vinsko can keep it up through January.
Pa. TV stations. Finally! With less than three weeks to go, campaigns around the state are finally hitting the airwaves with ads. In Allegheny and Montgomery counties especially, the air war is heating up. It should be a nice revenue boost for the local cable stations.
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Frank Rizzo. The one Republican who just might, maybe have had a chance to run a credible campaign for Philadelphia Mayor left the party this week, over a squabble with Council GOP leader Brian O’Neill. He’s got three months left on Council. Suck it up.
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Amazon.com. Gov. Corbett said this week that his administration is exploring ways to generate revenue from online retailers. That’s sure to come as unwelcome news to the giant Amazon, that has expanded several Pa. facilities as a ‘thank you’ for the lack of a tax.
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Tim Murphy. The Congressman had a healthy $200K third quarter. But more importantly in light of his forthcoming challenge from the right, he pulled in the support of the patron saint of viable conservative primary challengers: Sen. Pat Toomey.
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4 Responses
Self-funding is easy, but it doesn’t capture hearts and minds. If that’s what it takes to get an up-arrow…seriously?
The in-kind flight cwas valued at $75,000
Seems Tom Smith took an in-kind donation to fly around the state the day he announced. Does that mean he will accept these kind of favors if he is elected?
How does having money correlate to Leadership? No offense Mr. Smith, but I think of this GOP run as the State version of Donald Trump thinking of the Presidency. “I’m not sure which Party I belong to, but I have lots of money to jet set around”. It’s just hard to take serious. In my neighborhood we had a wealthy kid who always got the best stuff. He was also the most wreckless with it because it was just “stuff” and had no value.