September 16: 50 Days

Clock

#️⃣ The Countdown Continues. Just 50 days until Election Day

PA Weather
☀️ Butler | Increasing Clouds, 78
☀️ Gettysburg | Partly Sunny, 76
☀️ Perkasie | Partly Sunny, 77

PA Sports
⚾ Phillies (90-59) | NY Mets 2-1 | Mon-Wed vs. Milwaukee
⚾ Pirates (71-78) | Kansas City 4-3 | Mon-Thu vs. St. Louis
🏈 Eagles (1-0) | Mon vs. Atlanta
⚽ Union (7-9-12) | Inter Miami 1-3 | Wed vs. NYC FC
🏈 Pitt (3-0) | West Virginia 38-34 | Sat vs. Youngstown State
🏈 Temple (0-3) | Coastal Carolina 20-28 | Sat vs. Utah State
🏈 Penn State (2-0) | idle | Sat vs. Kent State
🏈 Steelers (2-0) | Denver 13-6 | Sun vs. LA Chargers

🗓️ What’s Happening Today. The Senate convenes at 1 p.m. President Joe Biden will deliver remarks at the 2024 National HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia.

🎂 Happy Birthday. Cake and candles for Rep. Mary Jo Daley.

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Top Story

1. McCormick’s Hedge Fund Days Are a Double-Edged Sword In Pennsylvania’s Senate Race

Dave McCormick

“Before he ran for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, David McCormick was a big name on Wall Street.

He was the CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, a world-traveled executive who was sought after for speaking engagements and prominent board positions.

His wealth and connections got him flagged by Republicans as someone who could both raise campaign cash and pay his own way for a Senate campaign.

But McCormick’s Wall Street days haven’t been such an asset of late.” (AP)

Elsewhere

FBI Investigating Shots Fired Near Trump as Apparent Assassination Attempt; Trump is Safe. “The FBI is investigating a possible assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump after gunshots were fired Sunday near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the GOP presidential nominee was playing golf.” (Penn Capital-Star)

No, Early Voting Does Not Start in Pennsylvania on Sept. 16. “Despite reports in several national outlets, ballots are not yet finalized and will not be available to voters next week.” (Votebeat)

Making Sense of Pennsylvania’s Stubbornly Deadlocked Polls. “Both campaigns are treating the state as essential, flooding it with staff, money, and endless ads to prod exhausted voters to the polls and take home its 19 electoral votes. So which candidate is in a better place to do so?” (New York Magazine)

Shapiro Says Vance’s ‘Bonkers’ Claim About Haitians Eating Pets Puts Lives At Risk. “Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance on Sunday doubled down on debunked allegations that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets, leading Gov. Josh Shapiro to accuse him of “putting Americans at risk.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

 

State

2. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Restores Date Requirement For Mail Ballots, Voiding Lower-Court Ruling

“Pennsylvanians who vote by mail must write a proper date on their ballot envelopes for their votes to be counted, under a decision Friday from the state Supreme Court that could affect thousands of voters this November.

The decision voids an Aug. 30 Commonwealth Court ruling that enforcing the requirement on ballot dating violated voters’ rights under the state constitution. The Supreme Court’s 4–3 decision was based on whether the lower court had jurisdiction in the case, not on the merits of the underlying claim, meaning that the constitutional argument could be made again in court.” (Votebeat)

  • PA Supreme Court Vacates Commonwealth Court Decision on Dating Mail Ballots. (PoliticsPA)
  • PA High Court In Ballot Ruling ‘Did Not Side With Voters:’ Gov. Shapiro. (PennLive)

 

Elsewhere

Who’s Paying For All Those Political Ads? Bloomberg, a Mellon, ‘Dark Money’ PACs and More. “A PublicSource and WESA analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission and AdImpact found that to a large extent, the ads Pittsburgh voters find on TV are funded by a small group of billionaires spread across the country, and by so-called “dark money” groups whose tax status exempts them from disclosing their donors’ identities.” (Public Source)

PA’s Richest Man, Jeff Yass, Is Spending Millions to Elect the Republican AG Candidate in November. “A political action committee primarily funded by Pennsylvania’s richest man has put its thumb on the scale of the race for the state’s next attorney general, in hopes of electing the Republican candidate.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

PA Election 2024: Your Guide to the Candidates For Treasurer. “The state treasurer is one of three elected row officers in the commonwealth, and plays a crucial role in managing state dollars. They can serve a maximum of two four-year terms.” (Spotlight PA)

PA-01: Internal Poll Puts Ehasz In Range of Fitzpatrick. “One released internal poll deserves another in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District.” (PoliticsPA)

PA-07: Wild, Mackenzie Each Claim the Center in Carbon County Debate. “In an hourlong debate Sunday, Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild and her general election Republican opponent, state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, each cast themselves as a moderate running against a radical, meeting attacks with attacks.” (LehighValleyNews.com)

Shapiro Administration Appoints New State Board of Higher Education. “On Friday, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced his appointments to the new State Board of Higher Education – a crucial component of the higher education reforms the Governor signed into law as part of the 2024-25 budget.” (PoliticsPA)

 

Around The Commonwealth

3. Pennsylvania Is The Swing State That Matters in November

“Pennsylvania is haunted by its many claims to historical distinction. Its largest metropolis was the “workshop of the world” but remains America’s poorest big city. Its south-central farms and northeastern mountains boast the richest soil and coal veins, respectively, but sterile town-like developments and mammoth warehouses now dominate the land. And its defining steel company, which built America’s skyscrapers and ships, could be ultimately acquired by a Japanese corporation.

Now, following a summer of cataclysms, voters comprise Pennsylvania’s most precious resource.” (UnHerd)

Elsewhere

7 Issues That Could Decide the PA Vote in the 7 Weeks Before Election Day. “Seven weeks. That’s all that remains until Election Day. But early voting begins in Pennsylvania on Monday. That means the election is now.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Podcast: Josh Shapiro on How Kamala Harris Can Win Pennsylvania. “We’re a big state, but we’re still a retail state,” Shapiro said, “meaning you got to show up!” (The New Yorker Radio Hour)

Luzerne County Election Board To Tally Final Two Ballots From the 117th District Primary on Monday. “The election board will also conduct the “first signing” of the results of the race — which will show challenger Jamie Walsh as the apparent winner over incumbent Mike Cabell. That will pave the way for the board to certify the results of the race, which had been subject to litigation for more than four months.” (Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice)

HD-117: Supreme Court Rejects Walsh Appeals on Provisional Ballots. “The saga of the state’s Republican primary in the 117th Legislative District may be drawing to a conclusion after 143 days.” (PoliticsPA)

Sen. Laughlin’s Libel Suit Heads to Mediation As He Drops Claim Over Harm to Sex Life. “Laughlin, Erie Reader to try to settle defamation case over 2022 column related to fellow Republican Donald Trump, 2020 race. State senator had claimed stress over column hurt sex life with his wife.” (Erie Times-News)

Legislation Would Limit Hiring of Undocumented Workers at State-Funded Universities. “With a stated goal of protecting the job prospects of U.S. citizens and legal residents, Rep. Robert Leadbeter is circulating a cosponsorship memorandum for support of legislation to limit the hiring of undocumented workers at state-funded universities.” (PoliticsPA)

 

Editorial

4. What’s On Your Mind

  • Springfield, Trump, and the Violent Gyrations of the American Dream. (Will Bunch)
  • Properly Funding SEPTA is Essential to Philadelphia’s Economic Future. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
  • A Portrait of a Political World Long Gone. (David Shribman)
  • It Hurts Pennsylvania’s Apple Industry to Demonize Immigrants as Rapists, Criminals and Pet Eaters. (PennLive)
  • The Right Is Defending the Nazis — Again. (Jacob Heilbrunn)
  • The Ships Act is No CHIPS Act –Why Dave McCormick Needs a Calendar and a Reality Check. (Colin Coyle)
  • Newly Registered Pennsylvania Voter Motivated By Economic Circumstances. (Salena Zito)
  • The Case Against Kamala — Part Two. (Beth Ann Rosica)

 

 

1 Thing

5. 2024 Ig Nobels: Dead Trout Swimming and Pigeon Missiles

Pigeons, boundaries and the Holy Spirit

“The 2024 Ig Nobel Prizes have been announced, and once again prove that science can be funny, which only sometimes gets in the way of it being good.

Highlights this year include research comparing the movements of live and dead trout, and sober and drunk worms. Apparently, being drunk may harm a worm’s capacity for movement more than being dead interferes with trout’s.

The Ig Nobel awards each year honor (or dishonor) research that “first makes you laugh, and then makes you think.”” (IFL Science)

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One Response

  1. I consider McCormick a Connecticut resident, but even if that wasn’t the case, his company’s ties to China’s military make him a no for me. At least Casey is Pennsylvania’s.





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