PoliticsPA readers. There are so many of you now that we needed the shut down the primary site today in order to upgrade our server to accommodate all the traffic (hence this blogger.com setup and the different format). Thanks for your patience and your patronage!
Don’t miss PoliticsPA’s list of Winners and Losers from Santorum’s decision to drop his presidential bid.
Up - Clintonites. Former President Clinton is about the highest-value endorsement you can have in a Democratic primary in Pa. He’s more popular among Dems than Barack Obama. On Thursday, the Prez headlined a rally for Kathleen Kane for Attorney General and announced his support for Rep. Mark Critz. It’s great press for Kane (who also got the Inky’s endorsement), and, said national reporter Shira Toeplitz, “This might be the closest we get to a game change moment in pa-12.” Kane and Critz’s mentor Jack Murtha were both strong Hillary Clinton supporters in 2008.
Up - Kathy Boockvar. Kathy had an impressive Q1 fundraising haul, raising $330K. She solidified her top dog status of DCCC recruits in PA and proved she can be a formidable opponent to Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick. Not to mention the fact that because the district is in the Philadelphia media market it will require substantial resources to get on the air in the fall. Similar props go to Larry Maggi (raised $266K in pa-18); Keith Rothfus (raised $241K in pa-12); and Manan Trivedi (raised $229K in pa-6).
Up - LRC. They finally passed a map! After passing a map that did not pass constitutional muster, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission deliberated and deliberated and deliberated and deliberated until they finally could agree on a map that split fewer municipalities and was more likely to pass the constitutionality test.
Up- Rick Santorum. Santorum quit while he could still save face. He quit before the Pa. tide had definitively turned against him and avoided the risk of an embarrassing death blow on his home turf.
Up/Down - Evan Feinberg. The Club for Growth announced this week that they have no plans to pump additional money into the Feinberg challenge to Rep. Tim Murphy. He raised a paltry $71K in Q1, but plans to air a TV ad. However, he did score the moral victory of an (official) endorsement from the Tribune-Review.
Down - Mark Cohen. State Rep. Mark Cohen's campaign manager parked a campaign vehicle in a spot reserved for press at City Hall in Philadelphia. The kicker is that his campaign manager writes for a newspaper in Phila. The Democratic Caucus Chairman's campaign staff certainly raised questions about journalistic ethics that may have gone unnoticed if parking-gate had not arisen.
