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9/14 Ups & Downs

The Pa. Supreme Court throws Democrats some curve balls, a plucky state house candidate makes the news, and meet the Romney campaign surrogate who shouldn’t be.

Plus, here are PoliticsPA’s list of the Top 10 Pa. State House Races and Top 5 Pa. State Senate Races.

And you don’t want to miss the tweet of the week.

Kathleen Kane. This week, the Democrat running for Attorney General became the first candidate in the 16 history of the Pa. Press Club to cancel a scheduled appearance. Her campaign cited a scheduling conflict 2 weeks ahead of time. Her opponent, Dave Freed, address the group in June and delivered a good performance. We can’t say it better than Daily News scribe and current club president John Baer, who wrote: “either she didn’t want to face the Q&A part of the luncheon or she figures she doesn’t need the exposure.” Maybe she saw how it went when Senate hopeful Tom Smith addressed the group in August. Either way, she can expect editorial board meetings to be a bit more frosty from here on in.

Susan Spicka. Earned media is hard for any state house candidate, particularly a long shot challenger. But running circles around her opponent, Rep. Rob Kauffman (R-Franklin). Take this gem, in which Spicka makes Kauffman look like a complete schmuck on TV news over his per diem expenses. He commutes to the Capitol from Chambersburg, but has collected over $34,000 since taking office. The saga yielded a smackdown by the Public Opinion Editorial Board, too.

Amanda Holt. She’s a front runner for Pa. citizen of the year, but it looks unlikely that the Pa. Supreme Court will side with her twice in a row. When Holt unveiled her self-made redistricting maps early in 2012, the Supremes agreed with her: she had proved that the proposed state House and Senate districts drawn up by lawmakers were no good, and they took the extraordinary step of throwing them out. But Thursday, it appeared that her new maps, while once again better than lawmakers’, weren’t better enough to talk the Court into a repeat.

Michael Krancer. The man charged with protecting Pa.’s environment took a day off work this week to campaign for Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. At an energy conference in Pittsburgh Krancer, the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, blasted President Obama and the EPA. He’s someone who Pennsylvanians depend on in order to ensure that Marcellus shale is developed safely – even when that requires cooperating with the feds. Now, everything that Krancer does (or has done) must be looked at through a campaign lens.

Voter ID. According to most observers of the Pa. Supreme Court, it’s looking likely that the new law requiring voters to show valid photo identification will remain in place. In the past few months, the state of Pa. has fast-tracked efforts to ease the the process of obtaining ID. Plus, the hard truth is the makeup of the Court makes it a long shot for the law’s opponents. Meanwhile, behind loud public criticism of the law, Pa. Dems are adapting their GOTV program to obtain ID for Obama supporters.

Tweet of the Week

This goes to Julie Blust of PA Working Families. The Occupy-flavored group is targeting Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks), and with protest signs like this the Congressman had better look out:

 

In the interest of keeping the public informed, we checked with Fitzpatrick Campaign Manager Faith Bender about the allegation.

“Congressman Fitzpatrick does not listen to Nickelback but is a big Springsteen fan,” she said. His feelings are mixed, she added, about Kathy Boockvar’s favorite song.

Facebook Post of the Week

This may or may not become a regular feature, but we felt we needed to recognize this photo from PA-15 candidate Rick Daugherty, who is challenging Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Lehigh):

Posted Thursday night: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=273597266090203&set=a.173287339454530.36944.117433835039881&type=1

10 Responses

  1. Fitzpatrick is wanted by his constituents for a discussion on Medicare/Medicaid/Obamacare without talking points, script, or pre approved questions.
    To date, he has ignored the request. He does not represent those he ignores.

  2. Kathy attended the medicare debate and Doo Wop in Bristol. Fitz only attended the Doo Wop. Does Fitz realize his other constituents also pays his salary? I’m voting for Kathy!

  3. Krancer is totally unqualified for the job he is. He got it because he is an Annenberg and his family gave a TON of money to Corbett and the GOP. That’s almost as bad as Corbett’s campaign manager’s father getting the top spot at the Turnpike.

  4. The FB post of the week from PA-15 candidate Rick Daugherty is just more evidence that an “unlike” button is needed.
    Time to hire a real graphics team Ricky!

  5. Thanks for music clarification (and sense of humor), Faith. Duly noted. Could you let us know if Congressman Fitzpatrick will be attending the Medicare/Social Security candidate forum tomorrow?

  6. oh come on!!! you didn’t already know that Krancer is acting for the oil and gas backers of Corbett and NOT the welfare of our environment a d our health?????Wher have you been?

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