Dan Hirschhorn's Blog
Dan Hirschhorn's Blog
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What’s going on behind the scenes right now
OK political junkies, it’s one of those moments where everyone goes nuts.
Jim Gerlach dropped out of the governor’s race. So what’s next?
I’ve been calling around, and with the caveat that not all of this is confirmed—yes, that means there’s rumor involved in this—here’s a rundown of what seems to be happening behind the scenes.
—Reporters are frantically calling Gerlach’s aides trying to figure out if he’ll run for reelection in the 6th Congressional District. His statement left open the possibility but didn’t say anything explicitly on the matter. A lot of Republicans are just assuming he will. We haven’t been able to reach anyone yet, but the consensus emerging from other reports is that Gerlach is taking it one announcement at a time, isn’t ruling anything out and will make a final decision in the next few days.
—Republican candidates and their operatives are even more frantically calling Gerlach’s aides trying to figure out the same thing. It’ll be tough for anyone to stay in the race if Gerlach runs again as an incumbent. Until that question is answered for sure, though, they’re all in a holding pattern.
—We’re hearing that the National Republican Congressional Committee is already pushing Gerlach to run for reelection. No surprise there. It’s safe to say he’s still the GOP’s best hope to hold the seat.
—Democrats, for their part, seem to be just a tad calmer. Sure, they’re analyzing the changing landscape just like everybody else. But even if Gerlach runs again, not much changes in their political calculus. They’ll have to spend more in a general and might feel more pressure to conserve resources in a primary. But even before Gerlach left the seat open the party felt it had a good chance of winning the seat this year. Naturally, they’d rather run against someone without Gerlach’s name recognition. But there are fewer freak-out vibes coming from that side of the aisle.
Did we miss anything?
January 7, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Tags: Jim Gerlach
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Danny B
Jan 7th, 2010
Is it possible that Gerlach will choose to run for Lt Gov?
Anonymous
Jan 7th, 2010
To Danny B:
That would create a storm, and would look like he’s desparate and going backwards because he was not confident he could hold congressional seat.
Also Anonymous
Jan 7th, 2010
No, Gerlach can’t run for Lt. Gov. But it makes Aichele, also from Chesco, look like a good bet now.
Anonymous
Jan 7th, 2010
Also Anonymous:
How so?
robin's whood.
Jan 7th, 2010
the DCCC will push Trivedi out if Gerlach stays in. he can’t win the general. too much dirt and too few money
Lee Levan
Jan 7th, 2010
Also Anonymous
Why can’t Gerlach run for Lt. Gov.?
Danny B
Jan 7th, 2010
Yeah why can’t he run? The money he raised for governor can’t be transfered to his congressional account, but it could be used for a run for lieutenant governor.
It would make a lot of sense, since Corbett’s from the west and Gerlach is from the vote-rich Philly burbs.
I’m going to miss Gerlach’s logo. It was awesome.
politigator
Jan 7th, 2010
I think Carol Aichele is a goner. Did anyone see Mark Schweiker’s endorsement of a Corbett/Colley ticket. The Schweik has a direct line to the party bosses and he will endorse who they want. Aichele was strung along by Chesco GOP Chairman Brion just to annoy Gerlach. Even Brion said her candidacy has some serious problems. Who knows Carol, maybe Chesco County Chairperson will be open soon….
In The Know
Jan 7th, 2010
Aichele will be endorsed by the GOP. Schweiker is only in the loop with Bucks County GOP leaders, not statewide leadership.
Jon Geeting
Jan 8th, 2010
So now it’s Rohrer the conservative versus Corbett the moderate. When is Corbett going to make his obligatory overture to the teabaggers? Maybe keep a teabag in his underwear or whatever, like the Rob Simmons in Connecticut?
flynnbw
Jan 8th, 2010
I originally thought that Rep. Gerlach was running for Governor mainly just to set himself up well as the strongest LtGov candidate. But then he started taking all sorts of pot-shots at the Attorney General. I don’t know if they would be able to come together and be a peaceful ticket.
Corbett-Gerlach would certainly be the strongest GOP ticket, but I don’t know if it’s possible at this point.
Abluu bluu
Jan 8th, 2010
Please run again. Jim Gerlach should hold PA-6 forever. I’m serious. PA-6 deserves this piece of shit.