Pat Murphy. The former Congressman, current Attorney General candidate all week has faced questions about taking the Minnesota bar exam. This down isn’t about his license. Murphy is a member of the Pa. Bar, and in the long run questions about the unusual path he took to get there will give him ample opportunity to talk about his military service (“I prosecuted terrorists,” etc). This down is for the awful week he’s had in the press as a result – his worst yet of the campaign.
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Pennsylvanians running for President. The Morning Call ran a story this week looking at the odds facing presidential hopefuls from the Keystone state (spoiler alert: not good). The rest of the country still hasn’t forgiven us for the whole James Buchanan thing. It was evident New Hampshire Tuesday, when Rick Santorum finished fifth (this just in – he inched above Newt Gingrich into 4th place). Stewart Greenleaf got fewer votes (22) than he has colleagues in the Pa. Senate, and Philly management consultant Bear Betzler.

Stephen Bloom. The Cumberland County freshman gets an up this week for sponsoring the bill to create the “PA Preferred” brand for in-state products – just in time for the farm show. PoliticsPA saw the moniker everywhere this week.
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Chelsa Wagner. The State Rep. Allegheny County Controller State Rep. announced this week that she will not resign her seat in the state House despite being sworn in to her new office last week. Her reasoning sounds fair – that her resignation would trigger a special election in Allentown, where the district moved during redistricting and leave her constituents without the resources of her office. But she’s also keeping her state salary ($80K+) instead of her county one ($60K+). Oh and there’s this. She’s the beneficiary of a “big pay raises without oversight” – a $20K+ boost for the Controller approved around midnight a few days ago.

Arlen Specter. The former Senator loves making headlines and he knows how to do it. This week, he suggested that Democrats dump Obama from the ticket and replace him with Hilary Clinton – instant news bonanza. That said, his comments sounded like sour grapes in the context of his suggestions that the White House didn’t exactly go all in to help him win his 2010 Democratic primary.

Det Ansinn. The Doylestown councilman bowed out of the pa-8 congressional race this month, endorsing all-but-certain nominee Kathryn Boockvar. But he still got to visit the White House twice this month as part of the President’s small business council. Not to mention that his home town high school hosted the Vice President this morning.
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John Rafferty. Just a few weeks ago, PoliticsPA called him the front runner in the Attorney General race. Shows what we know. This week, the wheels came off. Governor Corbett moved behind the scenes to rally support for Cumberland County DA Dave Freed in the GOP primary until the writing was on the wall for the Montco state Senator. Credit to Rafferty for being the bigger man in his withdrawal statement.

Luke Ravenstahl. Props for good/hilarious sportsmanship by the Pittsburgh Mayor. This is worth 1,000 curse words.