YOU can make a difference in the May 16th PA primary and can help put a strong progressive in the primary instead of a centrist, anti-abortion, pro-Alito pick of the DLC leaders. Forward this article and phone everyone you know in Pennsylvania
YOU can make a difference in the May 16th PA primary and can help put a strong progressive in the primary instead of a centrist, anti-abortion, pro-Alito pick of the DLC leaders. Forward this article and phone to everyone you know in Pennsylvania
Wherever you live, in PA or not, you can help beat Rick Santorum by taking action today.
Please contact the people you know who are registered Demcrats in Pennsylvania and tell them they need to vote for Chuck Pennacchio if they want to get rid of Rick Santorum this fall and tell the people THEY know in PA to come out and vote for Pennacchio too. And while they are at it, they should vote for progressive
Valerie McDonald Roberts for lt. governor. Before the current governor Rendell, the two previous governors have left office, causing the lt. governors to become governor. If Rendell were to vacate the office for any reason, Valerie would be both the first female and first African American to become governor of PA. I've met her and canvassed voters, on the street, beside her and she's terrific.
We've looked at the polling numbers, not the ones paid for by the mainstream media which unfairly left the progressives out of the polling. The poll numbers Zogby did for us show that Casey loses his lead over Santorum entirely when people find out about him. Chuck pulls 10% more voters than Casey when people know their issue postions, and that's having spent under $100,000 on his entire campaign. (read below for answers to the money raising question.) Also, you can look at the alexa.com rankings of the three candidates.
PennacchioCaseySandalsThey show that
-Casey's website traffic has dropped 622,000 to a three month average of 1,141,016, with his one week average so low it doesn't show on the radar. His
reach per million has dropped 63% to 0.65
-Sandal's website traffic has gone up-- but is still far below Casey and Pennacchio and his reach is even worse, 1/26th of Pennacchio's most recent weekly reach stats.
Pennacchio supporters are on the ground all over the state and there is no sign of Bob Casey, the pick of the Democratic party insiders, anywhere. No TV ads, not one single yard sign, no bumper stickers, no-on out canvassing or at major events.
Casey has left the building. He is assuming his union endorsements and the fact that his father was governor and he's been endorsed by the Democratic leadership which 91% of democrats are not "very happy" about will win him the election. He is showing no evidence of being a strong campaigner.
But he has shown clear evidence of being a weak campaigner. His public and television persona is weak and boring. His positions on issues have been foggy, shadowy, vague and evasive.
I've been supporting Chuck Pennacchio, a tough, aggressive campaigner who has taken a lesson from Paul Wellstone, building a grassroots base of over 6,000 supporters statewide who have been canvassing their hearts out in the weeks leading up to tomorrow's primary.
Tomorrow is the big day. Off year primary elections usually see a very small turnout. It's supposed to rain all day. That reduces turnout too.
If you can persuade the people you know in PA to come out and vote for Pennacchio and Roberts, it will help beat Santorum.
Here's why. Pennacchio already has over 6000 people in a grassroots organization he's built statewide. That will grow.
Casey is a huge gamble, cast by democratic leaders who have picked loser for every one of the last 40 years of regular PA senate elections. Casey will alienate the women who find his strong anti-abortion position abhorent. He supported Samuel Alito and that angers many voters, as does his weak, vague position on the war and censure of Bush.
Our polls have repeatedly shown that Casey drops dead even at 40% with Santorum. That won't create a winner. Pennacchio is a clear choice between Democrat and REpublican and there are 500,000 more Democrats in the state than Republicans. Pennacchio's positions on issues resonate superbly with PA independents and moderates.
When Pennacchio wins the primary it will be a huge upset. He will instantly become world famous, with his picture on the cover of every newsmagazine in the nation. He'll be on meeet the press the following weekend and in high visibility rotation on all the networks. Fox will come out attacking him the next day. But the Democratic party will pull together and get behind him 100%. The blogoverse will raise millions for him within days. And fundraisers will be set up quickly by democratic leaders and high rolling Democrats throughout the US.
This will not happen for Casey. He's already old news. He has already been getting his coverage. He will never raise the money from the net that Chuck will raise.
Let's be clear. Santorum wants Casey as his opponent. he knows he can beat him. If that were not the case he could have done things to raise the visibility of Casey's opponents. Sandals, the other progressive in the race is clearly not a realistic candidate. He's a good man, with good issue positions, but he didn't do his job, building a real campaign organization. He ran some ads, paid a few staffers, but never built a grassroots base. His website alexa rankings show that even with the biggest media budget of the race, his penetration has been negligible. Santorum could have made life rough for Casey by engaging in dialogue that would have elevated Pennacchio's visibility, possibly forcing Casey to expend more resources. The Santorum campaign chose not to. I think it was because they saw that Pennacchio would be a more formidable challenger.
Here's more information on why Pennacchio is THE candidate who can best beat Santorum. Call or email everyone you know in PA. Tell them to vote for Chuck. They won't regret it. They can't lose.
Pennacchio for PA's US Senator www.chuck2006.comUnhappy with Democratic Leadership. Like 91% of Democrats statewide? Send the Democratic leaders (who have picked losing candidates in the last 40+years of regular senate elections) a message. Reject their pick--Bob Casey-- and vote for Chuck Pennacchio
Best Chance to Beat Santorum; Chuck is PAC-free, while Casey took money from 120 PACs that also gave to Santorum. He will go to congress representing you, not special interests.
-Chuck is
a real democrat. Casey looks more like a republican on issue after issue
-Chuck is
Pro women's rights, while Casey isn't
-Chuck
has a plan to get us out of Iraq soon and Chuck opposed the war.
-Casey supported the Alito nomination, even though Alito has a horrible record dealing with UNIONS. Chuck was anti-alito
Chuck will make a GREAT senator-- one we will be proud to call our own, one who will be a real leader in congress, the next Paul Wellstone. Casey avoids taking positions on the tough issues and is terribly boring. Chuck is charismatic, dynamic, passionate, like Howard Dean.
You Can't Lose Voting for Chuck. Chuck is the underdog. Casey was annointed by Rendell and a bunch of out-of-state senators who he will owe bigtime. Chuck will only owe the voters who elect him.
When he wins, he will be the most famous man in America, on the cover of every newsweekly, on all the prime time news, and he will be famous as a little guy who beat the system.
He will be the David who slew Goliath and millions in contributions will roll in within days of his win. When Chuck Wins, Every Power Democrat in the Senate who supported Casey will roll over and support him and money will come in ever bigger than for Casey. He will springboard far beyond Casey and have a strong grassroots base already in place.
If Chuck loses, you'll probably hold your nose and vote for Casey.
Santorum WANTS to Run Against Casey; He will destroy Casey with Swiftboat ads.
Polls ( www.opednews.com) have shown that once people find out about Casey he totally loses his lead, and Santorum will make sure they find out about him. Casey lost to Rendell after having a 17% lead. He has never run against a tough candidate and won. No-one even remembers who he beat in the Treasurer election. Chuck has been a leader in three US senate campaigns that produced Democratic Wins. Casey was chosen by Democratic leaders who have picked losers in regular elections for 40 years straight. Zogby polls have repeatedly shown that Chuck pulls better against Santorum than Casey.
A Casey win against Santorum, will be devastating to women's rights. The Democratic party will hold Casey up as a poster boy of how Democrats can win, and they will advocate supporting candidates who oppose abortion rights. Opposing abortion rights is a slippery slope. Many of the national organizations that oppose abortion also oppose contraception. That's why it's easier to get health coverage for an abortion than for birth control pills. The anti-abortion lobby has blocked coverage for birth control pills by insurers.
Bottom line--Vote for Chuck Pennacchio. He's a long shot you will be proud to have voted for. If he wins, he will have gone up against a well funded campaign that spent millions of dollars, while Chuck, because he didn't take PAC money spent under $125,000. Chuck will have won because of his grass roots base of 6,000+, his stand on issues, his message and his dynamism as a candidate who crisscrossed the state over and over, making more than 350 appearances.
Imagine how Fantastic he'll do when he takes his PAC-free message to TV, when he has millions of dollars to promote his candidacy and further build his grassroots network. He will be invincible.
--
Rob Kall, editor
opednews.com ,
Newtown, PA