From the Blogs

NRCC thinks big but takes big risks

by Michael Livingston

I recently received my “top secret” mailing from the National Republican Congressional Committee, indicating the 100 (!) seats the committee was targeting for the fall election, with a plan to  pour more than $1 million of national funds into the races. Operating on the assumption that anything I know about can’t be very secret, I feel free to divulge its  contents to my readers. Not that there are many surprises.

The most striking thing was…

March 10, 2010 at 2:00 pm | Comments (3)

Hafer had petition problems

Turns out Barbara Hafer may not have been able to make it on the ballot, even if she didn’t drop out of the 12th District race.

Capitolwire reports that when Hafer filed her nominating petitions Tuesday, she did so with only 1,013 signatures, barely more than the minimum 1,000. Facing a bitter race against endorsed Democrat Mark Critz, such a small number of signatures would have surely invited a ballot challenge. The revelation…

March 10, 2010 at 11:56 am | Comments (18)

Callahan, Lentz on first ‘Red to Blue’ list

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan and state Representative Bryan Lentz (D-Delaware) are reportedly among the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s first round of “Red to Blue” candidates, a list highlighting the party’s highest-priority House challengers and open-seat candidates in the country.

Callahan, a White House recruit, is challenging Congressman Charlie Dent (R-15) in the Lehigh Valley. Lentz is seeking to hold the seat being vacated by Democrat Joe Sestak, and is the Democrats’ presumptive nominee to take…

March 10, 2010 at 9:28 am | Comments (17)

Hafer steps aside in the 12th (Updated)

Democrat Barbara Hafer dropped out of the race in the 12th Congressional District Wednesday, abruptly ending a candidacy best known for her attempts to paint her main opponent as unelectable, a crusade that incensed longtime loyalists of the late Congressman John Murtha.

Hafer’s withdrawal came less than 24 hours after she was still defiantly questioning the process by which her opponent, Mark Critz, had won the party’s nomination for a special…

March 10, 2010 at 9:21 am | Comments (12)

From the Blogs

LEFTOVERS: Trivedi writes back, another DFA chapter for Hoeffel, petition signatures galore

by Dan Hirschhorn

Democrat Manan Trivedi has written back in response to Doug Pike’s call for a clean campaign, essentially saying: We’re already doing that buddy.

In a letter to Pike Tuesday, Trivedi said he was already running his campaign on “basic tenets of integrity.”

“I will continue to run an honest and truthful campaign focused on the vital issues important to families struggling in this economy,” Trivedi wrote. “I will present my ideas and qualifications…

March 9, 2010 at 11:39 pm | Comments (4)

Hafer continues to hit process; Rooney calls her actions ‘repugnant’

Democrat Barbara Hafer is continuing her criticism of the selection process that gave a special election nomination to her opponent Mark Critz—and the state party chairman says it’s time to move on.

“This is another flawed process,” Hafer told pa2010.com Monday night after the state party’s executive committee voted to nominate Critz.

Specifically, Hafer took issue with the fact that she was only asked for her biographical information, to be circulated to voting…

March 9, 2010 at 11:30 pm | Comments (15)

Meehan hits Lentz on missed hearings

Republican Pat Meehan this week criticized state Representative Bryan Lentz (D-Delaware) over Appropriations Committee hearings Lentz missed last month, continuing what is quickly becoming a heated congressional contest between the two even before the general election officially starts.

Meehan’s campaign noted that Lentz missed three committee hearings on Feb. 24, after missing one the day before. On Feb. 24, Lentz was in Washington for a candidate training session run by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.…

March 9, 2010 at 11:26 pm | Comments (11)

Metcalfe running for Lt. Gov.—Urban also opts for two races

The race for Lieutenant Governor appears to be getting a surprise, last-minute addition this week, with state Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) set to announce his candidacy Wednesday. Metcalfe, one of the General Assembly’s staunchest conservatives, reportedly filed petitions Tuesday to get on the primary ballot, but apparently is also running for reelection.

Metcalfe will launch his campaign Wednesday morning in the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg.

Luzerne County Commissioner Stephen Urban also said he’ll seek the…

March 9, 2010 at 10:16 pm | Comments (3)

Russell’s fundraising strategy comes under scrutiny

Few congressional hopefuls have raised the kind of money Republican Bill Russell has raked in during this election cycle. Since losing his bid for the 12th Congressional District in 2008, Russell has pulled in a whopping $2.8 million.

The problem, though, is that it’s cost him almost that much to raise the money in the first place, thanks to his use of a voter-contact firm that has come under increasing scrutiny for the rates it…

March 9, 2010 at 11:45 am | Comments (11)

From the Blogs

Why the tizzy in the 12th doesn’t matter

by Daniel Livingston

Look, when you think about it, the 12th Congressional District is going to be an afterthought soon enough. When the redistricting is completed based on the 2010 census (which, by the way, came in the mail this week), that district is the one most likely to be eliminated. This is the reason why Democratic leaders were smart to choose Mark Critz for the nomination over Barbara Hafer.

Someone like Critz probably lacks political aspirations beyond…

March 9, 2010 at 11:39 am | Comments (4)