Castor drops bid for state Senate

Bruce Castor’s decision not to run for Senator Rob Wonderling’s seat came in an emailed statement early this week, leaving Bob Mensch as the only Republican now running for the seat. No Democrats have announced that they will run for the seat.

Wonderling is leaving the Senate to head the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and a special election will be held to replace him.

Castor’s dropout is part of a long story of tension between…

July 29, 2009 at 1:54 pm | Comments (1)

Castor’s out for state Senate

“This year may be the most critical budget deliberations in the history of Montgomery County. I believe I have an obligation to see this budget process to completion and that is what I intend to do.”

With those words, Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor graciously bowed out of the state Senate race. As much as he wanted the Senate seat, working out the critical budget issues in Montgomery County is more important—and he is also…

July 28, 2009 at 8:09 pm | Comments (0)

Welcome back…

It was a short “vacation,” but there’s plenty of new stuff to talk about: Sarah Palin’s decision, a new candidate in the 7th District, more on the Bruce Castor watch and continuing signs that the Obama administration’s stimulus package didn’t do much, well, stimulating of the economy or anything else. All of which suggests that, as I’ve been arguing, the Republican sentence to purgatory may…

July 5, 2009 at 6:30 pm | Comments (0)

Vacation tidbits…

OK, it’s vacation, but here are two quick thoughts anyway:

1. There are signs all over Northeast Philadelphia that read “Lost Jobs?  Blame Arlen Specter” and say something about the Employee Free Choice Act.  But wasn’t Specter leaning toward supporting EFCA?  Boy, it’s enough to make you feel sorry for the guy.

2.  Also, check out the interesting writeup in the Inquirer today about MontCo Commissioner Bruce Castor. State GOP Chairman…

June 29, 2009 at 6:01 pm | Comments (1)

Ci vediamo, woops, see you next week…

I’ll be in Italy most of next week attending a conference, so the posts will likely be short-to-nonexistent.

A couple of predictions while I’m away:

1.  Arlen Specter will continue to make Democrats and Republicans angry while raising a lot of money.  Is this what they mean by “laughing all the way to the bank?”

2.  Bruce Castor will decide to run for some office other than Montgomery County Commissioner. If not the state Senate,…

June 5, 2009 at 11:55 pm | Comments (0)

Open state Senate seat could mean no Lt. Gov. run for Castor

UPDATE APPENDED (see bottom)

Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor had expressed interest in running for the GOP nomination for Lieutenant Governor. But an open state Senate seat could change all that.

Castor, a Republican who has been mostly locked out of policy-making because of a power-sharing agreement between Republican Commissioner Jim Matthews and Democrat Joe Hoeffel, had been contacted recently by an ally of GOP gubernatorial front-runner Tom Corbett…

June 3, 2009 at 9:53 am | Comments (3)

Initial projections, left meaningless by the passage of time

Almost six months ago, I decided to go through the 2010 elections and make my first predictions. Although many candidates weren’t included that are now being mentioned or are officially in, here they are…

Tom Knox beats Tom Corbett for Governor

Joe Hoeffel over Bruce Castor for Lt. Governor

Arlen Specter over Chris Matthews for Senate

Now, obviously some of these things won’t happen since a majority of these candidates aren’t even in the races,…

April 22, 2009 at 11:54 am | Comments (1)

MontCo GOP feud could spill into Lt. Gov. race

BLUE BELL—For more than a year, Montgomery County’s Republican Commissioners have been at each other’s throats politically. Commissioners Jim Matthews and Bruce Castor were elected by county voters in late 2007, promising the GOP control over county policy even as is struggled to hold onto voters. But Matthews infuriated Republicans by shunning Castor, instead forming a power-sharing agreement with Democratic Commissioner Joe Hoeffel. This has effectively locked Castor out of power, and embroiled the county GOP in bitter dispute.

Soon, that toxic climate—and the vitriol Matthews and Castor regularly hurl at each other—could move to a statewide stage, with both Commissioners interested in the party’s nomination for Lieutenant Governor.

April 21, 2009 at 2:36 pm | Comments (13)

Wanted: Democrats for Lt. Gov.

The list of Republicans mulling a run for Lieutenant Governor reads like a GOP variety show, with more than a dozen candidates of every stripe lining up to play second fiddle to their party’s gubernatorial nominee. They include party mainstays, rising stars, political unknowns and everything in between.

But at this still-early stage, the Republicans are mostly alone in the field. Only one Democrat has said he is likely to run, and while others have been mentioned as viable, a deluge of Democratic candidates in to the race seems unlikely anytime soon.

So why are Democrats lukewarm to the contest?

April 19, 2009 at 6:10 pm | Comments (1)