The major party field for Pennsylvania's gubernatorial field has already been set. Ed Rendell doesn't have a primary challenger, and the only excitement on the Dem side so far has been whether we'll get our loopy Lieutenant Governor back, or whether Pittsburgh pol Valerie Roberts will get the nod.
Lynn Swann has also smooth sailing until May 17. The former NFL player was contested by Bill Scranton, the 1986 GOP nominee, and state Senator Jeff Piccola, but both have dropped out of the race.
It's been a tight one (the lastest Strategic Vision has at it 44-42 Rendell, and the margin has rarely been higher than five points either way), and it's about to get crazier.
Russ Diamond
entered the racea few days ago as an independent. For those who don't recognize him, Diamond is an activist whose claim to fame is founding
PA Cleansweep, an organization dedicated to defeating the state politicians behind last summer's midnight pay-raise. (The measure was later repealed after intense pressure.)
In a race that had been predicted to go down to the wire, Diamond's candidacy may end up the deciding factor. But first he's got to actually get on the ballot; Pennsylvania law requires independent statewide candidates to collect enough signatures to equal 2% of the share of the largest vote-getter of the last cycle. Thanks to Bob Casey, independents have a harder task than usual this year, needing roughly 67,000 signatures to access the ballot.
And the important question: Diamond almosty certainly won't win, but who will he defeat? The anger over the pay-raise scandal was statewide and bipartisan. To date, the only casualty has been a Democratic Supreme Court Justice. And although PA Cleansweep has been nonpartisan, it's greatest support has been from Republicans.
So to answer: I don't know. The pay-raise cuts both ways, but the word is that Diamond himself is a conservative. It'll be interesting to see how he deals with the other candidates in the race. He obviously won't bne too kind to Rendell, but he obviously doesn't support Swann either.