Posts tagged ‘PA Democratic State Committee’

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee was not able to rally behind a single candidate for Governor.

The Democratic establishment went overwhelmingly in favor of establishment man Jack Wagner, despite his lackluster fundraising.  Dan Onorato, who is the clear front runner with his millions in campaign funds, came in second.

Joe Hoeffel, the only true liberal, progressive in the race, was knocked out after the first round of voting.

The second round of voting looked like this:

Jack Wagner:  153 Votes
Dan Onorato: 76
Anthony Williams:  48

And 27 people abstained as a way of showing their support for Joe Hoeffel.

State Senator Anthony Williams should raise some eyebrows, because he hasn’t even officially declared for Governor.  He’s a very strong Philadelphia candidate.  Joe Hoeffel is from the Philly area, but not Philadelphia itself.  Williams rose eyebrows when he announced fundraising half a million dollars without even declaring.  He even raised more than Doherty and Hoeffel.  If he were to make it official, expect those numbers to jump.

Now, you may notice that even though Jack Wagner got 153 votes and yet didn’t get the endorsement.  That’s because an official endorsement requires a 2/3 majority.

This rule, proposed by Governor Ed Rendell a few years back, is valuable because if somebody were to get that 2/3 that demonstrates overwhelming party unity.  Democrats are very good at infighting, and this helps stave that off.

Jack Wagner and Dan Onorato currently don’t impress me, particularly after the PA Progressive Summit.  Hoeffel and Doherty were pretty progressive, but Doherty may as well be out of the race.  Hoeffel will have to pull off something big to close the gap.  Williams I know next to nothing about, except that unions rate him pretty highly, which is always good.

Senator Arlen Specter, who a year ago was a Republican, got an endorsement from the Democratic State Committee.   Specter beat Sestak 227-72 to surpass the 2/3 threshold needed.

Frankly, I am amazed at the plurality of support he received, given his history.  There could be a number of reasons for this, and I have no idea which it would be.  Maybe Sestak’s poor campaign organization turned people off.  Maybe Specter’s move leftward appeased the Committee people.  Maybe Specter seems more viable than Sestak in the general election against right-wing extremist Pat Toomey and the Teabaggers.

I agree with all three possibilities.  Sestak is poorly organized, Specter has been pushed to the left by this primary, and Specter, polls show, does better against Toomey (still below Toomey, but that can change).

This measure of unity will benefit him, because it allows for open institutional support.  Anything we can do to be united sooner against the forces of the GOP is a positive.