So the National Journal released their 2014 Against the Grain Awards, grading the best and worst of the campaigns at the election cycle's halfway point. This one particular award they could've given to Governor Tom Corbett (R. PA) earlier:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/...
Dead man walking: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R)
It's hard to overstate how much trouble Corbett is in. A Franklin and Marshall poll released this month shows him trailing Democratic challenger Tom Wolf by 22 (!) points, 47 percent to 25 percent. Barely a majority (55 percent) of his own party's voters support his reelection. While other targeted governors, like Florida's Rick Scott and Michigan's Rick Snyder, have seen their approval numbers improve recently, Corbett's have headed steadily downward since his election. The biggest question remaining for the governor is if he'll be able to surpass Santorum's reelection mark of 41 percent in 2006—one of the lowest totals for any incumbent not plagued by scandal. - National Journal, 7/15/14
Wow, that's pretty pathetic that his best hope is to do better than Santorum the last time he ran for office in Pennsylvania. But again, Corbett has no one else to blame for his election woes than himself. Sure, he was able to get his budget passed by pissing off the General Assembly:
http://www.philly.com/...
Gov. Corbett has discovered the one thing Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature can agree on:
Their mutual dislike for him.
Corbett yesterday signed into law the $29.1 billion 2014-15 state budget approved by legislators 10 days ago, but used his line-item veto power to carve out $65 million - 19.7 percent - from the Legislature's $330 million budget and another $7.2 million in other legislative spending.
Corbett is using that combined $72.2 million cut as leverage to force the state House and Senate to return from summer break to work on pension reform.
Five times in a news conference yesterday Corbett complained about lobbying by public-sector unions that oppose his pension plans. At no point did Corbett note that the Republicans, his own political party, control both legislative chambers and have not rallied to his side on the issue.
The Legislature now has three options: override Corbett's line-item veto with a two-thirds vote in each chamber, live with his cuts to their spending or fall in line with him on pension reform.
Judging from the legislative response, Corbett's summer just went from bad to worse.
Consider what they said:
* Senate Republicans: "We are disappointed that the governor has not, to date, been able to work effectively with the Republican majorities in the House and Senate to address important issues impacting our state."
* House Republicans: "The governor's actions today seem to us to be about politics and not the hard work of governing."
* Senate Democrats: "The budget, and his actions, are politically driven and do not solve problems."
* House Democrats: "The governor is simply unwilling to face the reality that his policies have not worked and his time is up."
Corbett trails Tom Wolf, the Democratic nominee for governor, by 20 points or more in recent polling. He desperately needs a political win before the Nov. 4 general election.
Consider the video Corbett's campaign posted online soon after yesterday's news conference.
That video slams Wolf for saying the pension issue is not a crisis for the state budget.
Here's Corbett's problem: The state's voters also don't see the pension issue as a crisis, at least compared with other issues.
A Daily News/Franklin & Marshall College Poll last week showed voters ranked education, the economy, the state's job market and taxes as more important to them when selecting a governor than the budget or pensions.
That poll showed Wolf leading Corbett 47 to 25 percent with 27 percent of voters undecided. Just one in four voters in the poll said Corbett deserves re-election.
"This really is his last stand," Franklin & Marshall pollster G. Terry Madonna said of Corbett's pension-reform gambit. "What else does he have to fight with?" - Philly.Com, 7/11/14
And Corbett certainly has caused a major rift between himself and his own party:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/...
The relationship between Gov. Tom Corbett and his fellow Republicans in the Legislature took a turn toward the dysfunctional this week as they traded insults about leadership following his decision to veto millions from the General Assembly's budget.
It's not unusual in the Capitol for the executive and legislative branches to gripe about each other, sometimes even publicly, but the intra-GOP battle has left the governor's agenda in limbo with just four months before voters decide if he gets another term.
It also has raised questions about what a second Corbett term would look like, even if his party keeps control of one or both chambers.
Terse responses from Republican legislative leaders showed just how badly things have deteriorated.
"The governor's actions today seem to us to be about politics and not about the hard work of governing," said House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, a conservative who can make a plausible claim to having done more to advance the governor's agenda than any other lawmaker.
Some lawmakers and staff have grumbled about Corbett's leadership over the past three and a half years, believing that his administration assumed an overly adversarial posture from the start and that he has not leveraged the power of his office to help with their agenda. - AP, 7/13/14
In fact, here's a timeline of the budget that shows Corbett's "victory" really is more of a strike out:
http://www.keystonepolitics.com/...
Trailing by double-digits in the polls entering the month of June, Tom Corbett needed to hit a walk-off homerun on the 2014-15 budget to have any real chance at re-election in the fall. What we got instead from the Governor resembled something more like a three pitch strikeout:
June 2nd- Governor Corbett makes it known that he wants to balance a budget with spending cuts and one-time transfers, and that his two biggest priorities are pension reform and liquor privatization
June 4th- Corbett endorses the flawed Tobash “hybrid” pension reform plan which does nothing to fill the $1.5 billion budget gap
June 10th- In an interview with reporters, Corbett says that if there is pension reform, he will consider tax increases to fill the budget gap.
“If we can’t get pensions done, I’m not open to anything,” he said. “They’ve got to move on it.”
June 17th- Corbett tells reporters his is prepared to stay past the June 30th budget deadline, if legislators do not reform pensions. He also states that he will not support tax increases until something meaningful is done with “cost-drivers” like pensions.
June 19th- Corbett’s budget secretary Charles Zogby gives an interview in which he states that all options are still on the table, while blaming Ed Rendell for the current budget mess
June 26th- With the GOP fractured over the Tobash plan, Corbett holds a press conference continuing to urge the Republican-controlled legislature to pass meaningful pension reform
June 29th- With the budget deadline a day away, Corbett links the Philadelphia cigarette tax to a positive pension reform vote from Philly Democrats, further alienating himself from the City of Brotherly Love
“If there is a positive pension reform vote, there will be a cigarette tax for Philadelphia. It’s in their hands.”
June 30th- The legislature passes a $29.1 billion spending plan which does not raise taxes, and it makes its way to Corbett’s desk for his signature in time to meet the midnight budget deadline. Corbett refuses to sign it, instead continuing to lobby for pension reform from the members of his own party who control the General Assembly
July 2nd- Corbett holds a press conference where he gives a budget update that rivals Seinfeld as the best programming about “nothing” on cable. He is still reviewing and considering the document
July 10th- After ten days of review, Corbett finally signs the budget, but exercises his line-item veto on $65 million in General Assembly funding and $7.2 million in legislative-designated spending, essentially declaring war on the legislature.
So to recap, before the month of June, Governor Corbett wanted to deliver an on-time budget, which did not raise taxes, and satisfied his two priorities of liquor privatization and pension reform. However, with a legislature with GOP majorities in both chambers, he delivered on exactly one of his four main goals, by hashing together a spending plan that will likely force Pennsylvania into an even bigger budget deficit next June. - Keystone Politics, 7/16/14
Again, Corbett has himself to blame and his party did him no favors:
http://www.post-gazette.com/...
Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati and other Republican leaders responded with a joint statement: “While we share the desire to enact statewide pension reform, linking pension reform to punitive program cuts is not a successful strategy.‘’ (Translation; “Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! That‘s our piggy bank you’re messing with!”)
As a governing strategy, this may not help the governor, but as a poltical strategy, it has promise. Mr. Corbett, the former attorney general who took down a slew of lawmakers in Bonusgate, strode into office promising reform. Well, now he’s at least acting like a reformer, telling our supersized statehouse to get out of its own way and accomplish something already.
”Pennsylvania‘s Legislature is a full-time legislature,’‘ Mr. Corbett said (somehow resisting the temptation to add “and still America’s largest!”). “The General Assembly left Harrisburg earlier this month with unfinished business. They need to come back and enact pension reform.‘’
Pensions are the kind of mundane subject that can get readers reaching for the NoDoz, but Mr. Corbett is taking to the stump arguing it’s a crisis that has already led to higher property taxes as school districts ante up to fund teachers‘ pensions. And this all goes back to moves the Legislature made more than a decade ago.
The administration’s narrative goes something like this: Back in 2001, Gov. Tom Ridge was eager to set up charter schools after his pitch for school vouchers went nowhere. To get those schools, the Ridge team let the lawmakers know the governor would be OK with increasing legislative pensions by 50 percent and teacher pensions by 25 percent.
So lawmakers from both parties voted overwhelmingly to enrich themselves and their lessers. The big lie was that it wouldn‘t cost taxpayers anything. Teachers would retire and be replaced by younger, less costly ones. A huge pension fund surplus would take care of the rest. Government seers were so confident, the state and school districts cut their contributions to the pension fund even as they made payouts more generous.
”It’s not a raid on taxpayer money,“ said Mike Manzo, spokesman for then-House Democratic Leader H. William DeWeese, describing this raid on taxpayer money.
Seven years later, the stock market crashed, pension investments cratered and the surplus vanished into the ether like a politician‘s promise.
Hence this dustup where alliances are shifting like an episode of ”Survivor,“ though it’s really just another episode of ”Our State Government Inaction.“
One thing this strategy does, though, is take away a case that might have been made against Democratic challenger Tom Wolf‘s effectiveness. Generally, when a governor of one party has to face a Legislature entirely controlled by the other party, the fear is gridlock. In Pennsylvania, we‘ve made a breakthrough. Republicans have managed gridlock all on their own. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/16/14
And Tom Wolf (D. PA) even trashed Corbett over this:
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/...
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf questioned Governor Corbett’s leadership during the budget process during a stop in Norristown today, as he toured the Chandler Bat Company.
Chandler Bat is one of the fastest growing companies in the area, now supplying baseball bats to more than a quarter of Major League Baseball players.
Wolf says he found it surprising and, having been in politics before, found it unusual that Corbett would behave that way, especially with his own party.
Corbett signed the state budget but line-item vetoed more than $70 million in legislative earmarks and operating expenses.
Wolf says it doesn’t appear that Corbett was involved in the process.
“The person who, in this case who is the governor, or the CEO of a company actually pulls people together and leads the process of creating an annual budget — that’s leadership,” Wolf said. - CBS Philly, 7/11/14
But Corbett's budget problems aren't over:
http://www.pennlive.com/...
Budget legislation signed by Gov. Tom Corbett for Pennsylvania state government's two-week-old fiscal year is the subject of intense legal scrutiny.
Parts of the $29 billion budget package are now an exhibit in a two-year-old lawsuit that is seeking to stop Pennsylvania state government from allowing more natural gas drilling on publicly owned lands and diverting the drilling proceeds away from a land conservation fund. A Tuesday afternoon status conference was scheduled in the case, which was brought by the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation.
A spokesman for Corbett's legal office would not comment, other than to say that the governor's office will respond in court.
The budget package establishes the state's authority to enact a new round of leasing publicly owned lands for natural gas drilling and authorizes the diversion of another $220 million from the fund into the state government's operating budget.
In addition, lawmakers are reviewing it because they say $7 million in line-item vetoes by Corbett of earmarks or spending items picked by lawmakers were unprecedented and possibly unconstitutional.
Corbett's office insists he had the legal authority — most of it was for the cost of a new parking deal negotiated by the Corbett administration — but lawmakers say it may have crossed a constitutional line from blocking spending to blocking wording that instead gave direction to spending already authorized elsewhere.
House officials were studying the issue, House Parliamentarian Clancy Myer said Tuesday.
Lawmakers can override a governor's veto by a two-thirds majority vote, although leaders of the Legislature's Republican majorities had made no decision on how to respond to Corbett's line-item vetoes. - AP, 7/15/14
So now Corbett is out on the campaign trail trying to make pension reform a serious campaign issue:
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/...
Gov. Tom Corbett is plunging into a public fight for legislation to curb rising public employee pension costs, using both the resources of his campaign and his official office to broadcast his warning of rising school property taxes and further pressure on classroom funding.
The effort comes amid a feud between Corbett and his fellow Republicans who control the Pennsylvania Legislature just four months before the Nov. 4 election decides Corbett's bid for second term and 228 of 253 legislative seats.
Over the weekend, Corbett's re-election campaign issued robocalls, with some Republican lawmakers reporting that it went to residents in their districts.
In it, he pounded lawmakers, just four days after he used his power of a line-item veto to strike $65 million from the Legislature's own appropriations and $7.2 million more in earmarks and other spending items picked by lawmakers in the state's $29 billion budget that he signed.
"The legislators sent me a budget that was loaded with perks and earmarks," he said in the recorded phone message.
Cutting "those excesses, though, have made some legislators angry ... They may get angrier. I'm asking them to come back and deal with pension reform to avoid massive property tax increases and trouble for future education funding." - AP, 7/14/14
And Corbett has every reason to be in panic mode:
http://www.businessweek.com/...
Standard & Poor’s will decide in the next few months whether to lower Pennsylvania’s AA rating, the third-highest level of investment grade, based on its handling of finances and pensions, analyst John Sugden in New York said in a telephone interview. Fitch Ratings is considering a similar move, with a cut “certainly more likely than not,” said Eric Kim, a director at the company, which also grades Pennsylvania AA with a negative outlook.
“They’re doing a lot of the things that would trigger a downgrade,” said Kim, who is based in New York.
A ratings cut may result in higher borrowing costs for the state, which saw its lawmakers leave Harrisburg without voting on a plan backed by Governor Tom Corbett that would shift some of the burden of funding retirement benefits to new state and school workers. Another concern is that the spending plan for the year that began July 1 may not balance expenditures with revenue in what Fitch’s Kim considers a sustainable manner.
Moody’s Investors Service gives an equivalent Aa2 grade to Pennsylvania, a step below its average state ranking of Aa1.
“As of now, we have no change to the rating or outlook,” David Jacobson, a Moody’s spokesman, said in an e-mail.
More than five years after the last recession ended, states are still struggling to fund their pension commitments. The average public system had about 72 percent of the money needed to meet retirement obligations in 2013, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
The $3.7 trillion municipal bond market applauded after Illinois lawmakers broke through decades of gridlock in December to pass a measure addressing the worst-funded state pension system.
The extra yield investors demand to own 10-year Illinois bonds rather than benchmark munis fell to as little as 1.09 percentage points in May, from 1.87 percentage points the day legislators approved the fix. Spreads have since widened to 1.4 percentage points after the state Supreme Court ruled on July 3 that health-insurance premium subsidies are benefits that can’t be diminished or impaired, potentially jeopardizing the pension legislation.
Corbett is urging legislators to return to the Capitol to address liabilities that account for 63 cents of every new dollar in revenue. The 65-year-old Republican, who’s running for re-election in November, supports a plan for new state and school employees that incorporates both a defined-benefit system and a defined-contribution approach similar to a 401(k).
Such a move could save $11 billion over 30 years, according to the state’s Public Employee Retirement Commission, which reviews proposed legislative changes to pensions.
For now, Pennsylvania is benefiting from an environment in which rates are hovering close to generational lows, said Justin Hoogendoorn, managing director at BMO Capital Markets in Chicago. Investors demand about 0.35 percentage point over benchmark munis to own Pennsylvania 10-year bonds, compared with the 0.34 percentage point average seen since January, data compiled by Bloomberg show. - Bloomberg Businessweek, 7/15/14
And he has this doofus on the campaign trail helping him raise money:
http://www.mcall.com/...
The Republican incumbent – facing the growing prospect of becoming the first Pennsylvania governor in decades not to win a second term – brought in Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to help bolster his campaign coffers.
Jindal joined him for an evening fundraiser at the North Whitehall Township home of David and Jackie Jaindl, the turkey farm magnates and residential and commercial land developers.
Jindal said in a phone interview before the fundraiser that as vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association, he’s not concerned by Corbett’s poll numbers. The state’s lower unemployment rate and Corbett’s spending cuts are signs that he made tough but necessary choices, Jindal said.
“I think Tom shows that he doesn't govern based on polls,” said Jindal, describing Corbett’s race as one that is "very important" to the RGA. “He knows that it’s about following your principles.”
Jindal is the latest Republican governor to visit the state to aid Corbett’s campaign: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stumped with him in Pittsburgh last month and Texas Gov. Rick Perry was at an energy-themed rally in May. - The Morning Call, 7/16/14
And of course Corbett is trying to paint Wolf as the "Tax Man":
http://www.philly.com/...
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) stayed positive in his TV ad campaign for two whole days last week, then began rotating a spot on job-growth with another that portrays Democrat Tom Wolf as a tax-mad monster.
The 30-second ad says that “millionaire” Wolf, a York businessman, neglected to mention in the onslaught of television ads he bought in the Democratic primary that he had been the state revenue secretary under former Gov. Ed Rendell (D).
It blames Wolf for new taxes on home heating oil, electricity and garbage, as well as a 1 percentage point increase in the sales levy. Rendell proposed all of those levies in the 2007-08 budget year, but he abandoned them in the annual give-and-take with the legislature. None was enacted.
In the event, a revenue secretary's role is to collect taxes, not determine the state's tax policy. When Corbett's campaign tried to pin Rendell-era taxes on Wolf in a similar ad run during the Democratic primary, fact-check organizations termed the linkage "false," "ludicrous" and misleading. - Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/15/14
But Wolf Super PAC, FreshStartPA, has hit back:
http://www.politicspa.com/...
The PAC, created by Wolf after his battle with the State Democratic Committee, released their first ad, a thirty-second video that hammers the Governor over his record. The organization has not made clear whether or not this commercial will air on TV.
“It’s a shame what Tom Corbett has done to Pennsylvania,” the spot begins. “Huge deficits, while he’s given tax breaks to big corporations. He’s let oil and gas companies off the hook.”
The video goes on to hit Corbett on the lack of an extraction tax and $1 billion in cuts to education. It also claims Pennsylvania ranks 49th in job creation (although no citation is given in the video to back up that statement).
“Tom Corbett, why would we give him four more years,” it concludes.
“For more than three years, Tom Corbett has failed to offer real solutions to fund our schools and fix the state’s stagnant economy,” said Katie McGinty, the chair of Fresh Start, in a written statement accompanying the video. “After cutting $1 billion from education, school districts across the state were forced to raise property taxes, and to make matters worse, we have fallen to 49th in job creation.
“Corbett’s cuts also led to thousands of teachers being forced out of the classroom and increased class sizes,” she finished. “Tom Corbett’s failed leadership has crippled our public schools and placed an unfair burden on middle-class families.” - Politics PA, 7/15/14
Wolf isn't the only one going after Corbett with attack ads:
http://www.philly.com/...
Outside money has entered the Pennsylvania governor’s race in a big way, with a new ad from billionaire Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate super PAC accusing Gov. Corbett (R) of giving favorable treatment to oil and gas companies while shortchanging public schools.
The ad, running statewide, demands that Corbett publicly disclose the meetings and communications he’s had with oil-and-gas lobbyists and donors.
“Oil and gas companies gave Gov. Corbett $1.7 million in political contributions and he gave them a sweetheart deal on taxes that’s costing Pennsylvania billions,” a voiceover says in the spot. “Corbett’s mismanagement has caused a huge budget deficit and his education cuts are forcing teacher layoffs and class sizes.”
This is a reference to Corbett’s policy decision to resist an extraction tax on natural gas production from the booming Marcellus shale formation in the state; all other states with gas and oil exploration to impose some level of production tax. Democrats have pushed the point that this has deprived Pennsylvania of revenue that could have avoided cuts to the state share of education funding earlier in Corbett’s term. - Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/14/14
And Corbett's cozy relationship with the oil and gas industry isn't just hurting him locally but also nationally:
http://www.ncnewsonline.com/...
A billionaire environmentalist from California intends to use a political action committee to spend $100 million targeting seven climate-change deniers — Corbett, two other governors and four candidates for U.S. Senate.
“Corbett and his administration deny basic science. Gov. Corbett says climate change is still ‘a subject of debate’ and his administration’s top environmental appointee says he hasn’t ‘read any scientific studies that would lead him to conclude there are adverse impacts’ from climate change,” said Suzanne Henkels, a spokeswoman for NextGen Climate, the political action committee created by former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer.
Experts said there is little evidence that climate change is an issue that will resonate strongly with voters.
But that doesn’t mean that the attacks couldn’t damage Corbett’s re-election bid.
“I believe that young people are probably more sensitive and understanding of climate related issues, but I would be hesitant to say that climate issues will make a difference in an election for governor,” said Mary Jane Kuffner Hirt, a political science professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Even young voters are more focused on things like the cost of higher education and “the availability of jobs that match the qualifications of those who persist and graduate from college,” she said.
The Corbett campaign is trying to sell the idea that the governor’s policies have translated into an improved economy.
Campaign spokesman Chris Pack pointed to the latest jobs number report showing the state unemployment rate of 5.8 percent is the lowest it’s been since 2008.
That argument has strong support from chamber groups and the drilling industry.
But polls show most Pennsylvanians believe the state should levy an extraction tax on the drilling industry, according to Chris Borick, a political science professor and director of the Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.
And most people think local governments should have more control over regulating the energy industry, he said.
Corbett could be susceptible to criticism that he is too closely aligned with the energy industry if critics go after him for being out-of-step on those types of issues, Borick said.
This week, Corbett’s campaign launched its first ads since the primary. Days later, the NextGen Climate committee began airing ads criticizing the governor for accepting energy industry donations while refusing to detail how closely the administration communicates with gas drilling companies while crafting policy.
It was the opening salvo in what could be a protracted attack.
Steyer told Politico that he intends to throw as much as $50 million of his own money into the campaigns to unseat Corbett, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Maine Gov. Paul LePage and Senate candidates in Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan.
Steyer spent $8 million to help Terry McAuliffe win the race for governor in Virginia. - New Castle News, 7/16/14
Wolf has been hitting the campaign trail hard promoting his platform:
http://articles.philly.com/...
Tom Wolf spent part of Friday morning touring Norristown's Chandler Bats company to discuss his job-creation plan.
The campaign stop was also a chance for Wolf, the Democrat challenging Gov. Corbett in November, to see how the baseball bats are manufactured before the company ships them out to Major League Baseball teams.
"I want to showcase the idea that we can make things here in the United States," said Wolf, who owns a cabinet company in York. "That means we can make things here in Pennsylvania."
Founded in 2010, Chandler, on West Washington Street, fashions bats from high-quality maple and sells about 20,000 per year, some to major-league players.
As owner David Chandler walked Wolf around the warehouse, he explained the company's methods and the science behind the bats. Wolf watched as the bats moved through machines, and as employees shaped and sanded handles.
Among other ideas, Wolf said he would create incentives for Pennsylvania companies to keep their labor local and tie those incentives to measurable results. - Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/13/14
And Wolf has been campaigning everywhere, even areas where Republicans outnumber Democrats:
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/...
Wolf is to visit local businesses and people on Main Street in Chambersburg about two hours prior to a 5:15 p.m. fund-raiser. Former Mayor Pete Lagiovane and Sheri Morgan, chairwoman of the Franklin County Democratic Committee are to accompany him.
"We are all aware of the tens of millions of dollars that are headed to Pennsylvania from outside interests in an effort to influence the race's outcome," Morgan said. "It is going to take all Democrats and other like-minded voters and donors to push back these destructive, ultimately freedom-robbing, interests so that we may elect officials who are concerned with solving problems and moving our commonwealth forward. Tom Wolf is concerned with just that."
Wolf's visit is a sign that county and state committee members have been working hard to raise the profile of Franklin County Democrats among powerful party leaders, according to Morgan.
"Attorney General Kathleen Kane, State Treasurer Rob McCord, U.S. Bob Casey, former Gov. Ed Rendell, and state party chairman, Jim Burn have all been to our county to meet us," she said. "We have fielded two candidates, Tom Wolf for Governor and Alanna Hartzok for U.S. representative, who are proven leaders and problem solvers across both private and public sectors. Our candidates offer voters an alternative to the stagnant thinking that has delivered policies which grow economic and democratic disparities between the people and transnational corporations. We are stepping up our outreach on the fund-raising and voter-turnout fronts."
Republicans hold a near 2-to-1 edge in voters' registration in Franklin County.
"Although we are outnumbered in the county, we are not outnumbered in the state, and we are outnumbered by less than 1,000 registered Republicans in the 9th Congressional District, according to the PA Department of State's numbers in late May," Morgan said. "We are out-voted and out-spent. We have the power to remedy this situation. The FCDC takes the responsibility to remedy this situation seriously. As Thomas Jefferson noted, 'We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.'" - Public Opinion Local News, 7/8/14
With Wolf being from central PA (York) and Centre County showing poor results in the GOP primary, these are the same signs that helped seal Rick Santorum's (R. PA) fate in 2006 against current Senator Bob Casey Jr. (D. PA). By the way, Casey recently spoke about Wolf's campaign:
http://www.pennlive.com/...
The Democratic senator said he plans to vote for York County businessman Tom Wolf, who's challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in November. He said Wolf has communicated his policy positions to voters in a manner that has been free of the "acrimony" seen in other campaigns.
The senator said he wishes Corbett would revise his position on the expansion of Medicaid to provide services to more people.
While the Affordable Care Act might still experience some setbacks, more people are starting to realize it was correct to expand health coverage and it didn't hurt people who have health insurance, Casey said. - The Patriot-News, 7/14/14
And Corbett is looking more and more like a one term Governor:
http://www.politicspa.com/...
Coming off some recent bad polling news, the Corbett-Cawley campaign is likely looking for some good numerical news. Unfortunately for them, they won’t find it at FiveThirtyEight.
The popular site run by Nate Silver ran a model on the nation’s Governor’s races that takes into account some of the common errors inherent to polling. Their study found Democrats with a favorable battlefield, in contrast to the Senate where Republicans hold the edge.*
The analysis run by author Harry Enten found that of all the gubernatorial races between two candidates, Pennsylvania is the fourth-most Democratically favored (behind New Hampshire, New York and California).
Enten compared Corbett to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, a Democrat who is also dealing with budget troubles but whom the author said still has a chance.
“The same probably cannot be said for Pennsylvania’s Republican governor, Tom Corbett,” Enten wrote. “Still dealing with the fallout from the Penn State sex-abuse scandal (among other problems), Corbett is down nearly 20 percentage points to his Democratic opponent, Tom Wolf. To come back from this deficit, Corbett probably needs Wolf to say something outlandish.”
Of course, there are still four months to go and polls can change, although according to FiveThirtyEight, the Governor is going to need them to start changing soon. - Politics PA, 7/17/14
Things are looking great for us but we can't afford to take anything for granted. So lets help Wolf get ready to win in November. Click here to donate and get involved with his campaign, State Senator Mike Stack's (D. PA) Lt. Governor campaign and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party so we can take back the State Senate:
http://www.wolfforpa.com/
http://www.stackforpa.com/
http://www.padems.com/