Lou Barletta for Senate

If the reports are true PA 11th CD Rep Lou Barletta of Hazleton  is running for the US Senate against incumbent Bob Casey of Scranton in 2018. After Rick Santorum flamed out in the 2016 primary Lou endorsed Donald Trump and has been a big supporter ever since. Many people say that Trump has urged him to get into the race.

Barletta getting into the Senate race will probably knock out a few of the minor Republican candidates but I doubt he will have a clear field.

On the other hand the next primary  election in the  Pennsylvania 11th Congressional District will be a donnybrook on both sides.

The only declared candidate in the 11th CD until now was Democrat Alan Howe. 
That will change in the next few days.

The Republicans have a deep bench in a district that stretches from Wyoming County to down past Harrisburg and Carlisle. There are many Republican Legislators and County officials that will be looking for a promotion.

Of course some rich guy/girl  who could self finance might  get in on it.


My archive/oppo research on Barletta

Here

 

Barletta BBQ on Monday

Congresista Lou Barletta está teniendo una comida campestre en el barrio de Hazelton oeste el lunes. Yo no estoy seguro que asiste pero Rick Santorum debería hacer una aparición para pagar Lou para su aprobación.

 El ex senador y candidato presidencial republicano Rick Santorum ha anunciado el respaldo del congresista Lou Barletta para su campaña presidencial 2016.

"Me siento orgulloso de apoyar a Rick Santorum para el presidente. El senador Santorum es una de las voces más apasionadas y eficaces de nuestra nación para las familias norteamericanas trabajadoras. Él entiende que necesitamos políticas en Washington que ponen a los trabajadores estadounidenses primero, no el gobierno grande o grandes cantidades de dinero ", dijo Barletta. "Tengo muchas ganas de trabajar con la campaña de Santorum."

The last we heard from his only opponent so far, Mike Marsicano, he was walking up hills in Shamokin

Skip the corn dogs

The Iowa State Fair is underway and the Presidential candidates will be expected to gaze at the butter cow, speak from a hay bale stage (and get heckled) and eat all sorts of fried food. From  what I  can see from a quick google search most of them have been enjoying a pork chop on a stick.That's a shame but they were warned:

CBS: On the food front, there is one resounding warning call: avoid the corndogs. At this typical Americana event, food is king, and everyone will talk about the food the politicians eat. The media will also take photos of the candidates as they eat.

WaMo:  I’d say Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry would agree.

Well that advice will disappoint a lot of wise guy bloggers who would post pictures like these:

It's also  probably a good idea to skip the ice cream:

Just stick with the beer:

Joe Biden for President

All the Sunday morning talking heads show were abuzz about this NY Times story that Vice President Joseph Biden may after all run for President. In a normal year he would already be running and be the front runner. But this is not a normal year when the guy that finished second in the GOP primary last time, Rick Santorum (R-VA), is an afterthought and a guy that shoots from the lip, Donald Trump, is leading the pack.

Most of the "experts" said this shows how weak Hillary is because Bernie Sanders is drawing crowds and she is just another scandal away from imploding. I think Hillary will probably live through any real or imagined controversy as she has proved to be one tough cookie.

I've read many comparisons to past campaigns that say things like this will  be like 1968 when Gene McCarthy (Sanders) knocked President Johnson  out of the race only to have his VP Hubert Humphrey pick up the pieces after RFK was murdered to win the nomination and came close to sparing us from Nixon. Well things have changed since 1968 because of early filing deadlines for the primaries and it would be almost impossible to mount a campaign after Iowa and New Hampshire vote. 

So if Joe Biden is going to make a run he has to decide very soon.

I actually love the guy and think he would be a great President as does my pal Omeed. In 1988 I was working for his campaign in New Hampshire until the Dukakis campaign was able to torpedo him over the Neil Kinnock thing.



 

Luzerne County Democratic Picnic

This little girl pictured above doesn't want Mitt Romney to take her Big Bird away.

Congrats to recently installed Luzerne County County Democratic Chair Bob Boyer for putting together a great event that was attended by about 400 people according to my head counter Bob Caruso. Let's do it in the summer next time Bob.

The Luzerne  County GOP picnic had about 50 attend but they have gone back to the old ways of fighting each other. Urbanski won the Chair so the Casey supporters will boycott everything. More on that later in the week.

State Rep Eddie Day Pashinski was the Master of Ceremonies and I highly recommend him to MC your wedding the next time you get married.

 Senator Bob Casey spoke about the 100% of the American people and I blamed him for creating a monster that is Rick Santorum. He beat Ricky by 18 points in the last Senate race only to see Santorum come in 2nd in the Republican Presidential primaries. I predict that Santorum will be the GOP nominee in 2016 because he came in 2nd and the GOP is an orderly party. He will start his run  after he eats Big Bird.

Blast from the recent past Chris Carney who teased us about another run said Romney is not fit to be Commander in Chief. He noted that he is a Catholic war veteran speaking at the Catholic War Vets grove.

One of my favorite state reps Phyllis Mundy said the state GOP is as evil as the Tea Party yahoos on the national stage. She pointed out that 2/3 rd of Medicaid spending goes to people in nursing homes. We can't tax Shale but we can give corporations tax breaks.

State Rep Mike Carroll said the cartographers got it wrong Moosic is part of Luzerne County. Matt Cartwright corrected him  saying Luzerne County is part of Moosic.

Matt Cartwright reminded the crowd that "We are the Democrats" and did a shout out with the crowd  challenging them to stand up for Democratic values.

The thing that really struck me was the diversity of the crowd. This is not the Luzerne County Democratic Party of your father or even 4 years ago when the crooks that have gone to jail ran the show. I wasn't welcome then by Skrep, Lupas, Makowski and Vondy and the rest.

People from Hazleton turned out to support Ransom Young and Gene Stilp. Many of them Hispanic.

When a picture was being taken the shout wasn't cheese

It was HOLA!

Idiot Watch

Rick Santorum said this would happen if they gays could marry.

"In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."

 

Couple allegedly had sex with dog

 

According to the Luzerne County probation department, on June 6, Moore called the probation office and admitted that she and Antonelli were having sex with their Golden Retriever.
“(Antonelli) and his wife put themselves in danger by having sex with a dog who was not vaccinated,” a violation report says.

From the TL comments: Whose vaccinations? the Antonelli's or the dog's. I'm more worried about the dog coming down with something vile

 

I showed this story in the paper to Quincy. He didn't like it.

 

 

Romney just lost the election, again

I'm hard pressed to think of a Presidential campaign that has been this inept. Is it the curse of Massachusetts? John Kerry and Michael Dukakis ran poor campaigns but it wasn't because they scored so many own goals like Romney but the lack of response to the Republicans beating the shit of them and looked weak. No, I think you have to go back to the 1972 McGovern campaign's botching the VP pick and a hundred other stupid moves.

This video from David Corn in Mother Jones is all the buzz.

Romney Tells Millionaire Donors What He REALLY Thinks of Obama Voters

There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.

"[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

KOS:  

To recap:

1. Romney falsely claimed that 47 percent of all Americans are complete freeloaders.
2. It turns out two-thirds of that 47 percent still pay federal taxes. (As it turns out, they actually probably pay a higher rate than Romney.)
3. Of the remaining one-third who don't pay any federal taxes at all, more than half are elderly Americans who have already paid plenty of taxes.

BoBo of all people shoots down this nonsense

 Thurston Howell Romney

 Romney, who criticizes President Obama for dividing the nation, divided the nation into two groups: the makers and the moochers...This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?....The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees

Reading my Republican friends on Facebook and cruising the right wing blogs it's apparent they love this from Romney. Vodka swilling welfare Queens driving Cadillacs are bleeding the country dry.  I know people that get public assistance such as Medicaid and Food Stamps and they all tell me it SUCKS!



 Then there is the Politico story.

Inside the campaign: How Mitt Romney stumbled

 You usually see a story like this after the election. The Romney camp knows they are going to lose so the knives are coming out early.

Bain Capitol moved jobs to China 

From Buzzfeed

  And this one

 

Mitt Romney's Mexican Roots; His Father Was Born In Mexico, Could Choose Dual Citizenship

 The NY Post reports that Romney made his remarks at this guy's place

 

Nude frolic in tycoon's pool

 That should go over well with "values voters." 

 DN:  Former presidential contender Rick Santorum told a group of social conservatives this weekend that the country's "smart people" will never be on their side.

  From what I read the Romney campaign thinks that they can win the election by running up the score with white working class males. Sorry to disappoint the GOP and the pollsters but I'm a white working class male that will vote for the President.

A night with the Republicans

Alex put together a great event last night to watch Mitt Romney accept the Republican Party nomination to be President. About 60 people came and went before Romney took the stage but only 20 or so actually hung around for his acceptance speech.

Before we joined the fun at Mulligans Irish Bar I popped into Boscov's to buy a new blazer for Blogfest. It was great to see all the businesses open  in downtown Wilkes-Barre. A few years ago Public Square was a ghost town after 5PM.

The first person I ran into was my 2nd favorite back cracker, recovering politician turned radio talk show host Dr. David Madeira. You can catch his act weekdays 6-9AM on 94.3FM. Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffth told me he loves his job despite being shorthanded because of budget cuts and spoke highly of county manager Bob Lawton. He said he will definitely be running for reelection next year. It was good to see past candidates Gina Nevenglosky and Joyce Gebhardt. Kingston Mayor Jim Haggerty said he suggested one of the names for the AAA baseball team, the Blast. It was great to meet the Right Wing Fringey guy.

I asked some people in crowd what they liked about Romney. Lynette Villano said he has the business experience that will help turn the economy around. She is planning a big luzerne/Lackawanna County GOP dinner and is looking for a headliner. I suggested Rick Santorum. Lori Vandermark also cited Romney's business experience and added that he managed a successful Olympics. Luzerne County GOP chair Bill Urbansky said he was an American success story. Walter Griffith said "I have to hold my nose to vote for either of them" but he likes Paul Ryan. Host Alex Milanes critiqed his party on several issues saying "I think the Republican's are on the wrong side of history on gay rights." He thinks if the party loses this election it needs to reinvent itself and he won't jump ship but will try to build bridges.

Bill Wellock covered the event for the CV and Steve Mocarsky quoted me in his write up for the TL. I was expecting to see Andrew Seder but Bill told me he works bankers hours.

County GOP viewing party lures undecideds

Pick of Romney buoys local GOP

Looking to the fall: President and US Senate

The last time a Republican Presidential candidate won Pennsylvania was 1988 but it looks like we will be a battleground again. President Obama beat John McCain 53%-46% in 2008 but many people expect it to be closer this time.I haven't heard what Mitt Romney thinks of the height of the trees in Penn's Woods.We already know what he thinks of our cookies.

Bob Casey won handily in 2006 blowing out Rick Santorum by 17% in a very Democratic year. Tom Smith has deep pockets so expect this one to be more competitive than many people think.

The other races

In case you forgot there is a Presidential primary today in PA. Rick Santorum has dropped out but I just got a fundraising email from him a few minutes saying he will be on CNN tonight. And he still hasn't endorsed Mitt Romney. I hope Rick does well tonight along with Ron Paul voters who just may keep Romney under 50%.

The Republican US Senate primary ads have had Steve Welch and Tom Smith accusing each other of being closet Democrats. Blog Buddy Randy Potter predicts an upset.

Republican Senate Primary Race: In a surprise victory Sam Roher defeats Tom Smith, Steve Welch, and Marc Scaringi. Both Smith's and Welch's campaign ads highlighting their past ties to the democratic party made them both look bad. Also a big embarrassment for Governor Corbett backed Welch losing here.

State Auditor General Race: John Maher wins this one big. Frank Pinto gave it his best shot. GOP party establishment candidates always win these races.

12th Congressional District Race: Jason Altmire (D) defeats Mark Critz (D). This will be very close.

Join Mitt Romney in Tunkhannock today for a fracking good time

CV: Mitt Romney will bring his Republican presidential campaign to Northeast Pennsylvania for the first time on Thursday during a mid-afternoon visit to a Tunkhannock gas industry-related business.
The Romney campaign said the former Massachusetts governor will appear at 2:45 p.m. at Mountain Energy Services Inc., 16 Creekshore Road, Tunkhannock. The site is on Route 92 just north of Route 6 and Deer Park Lumber.
Mountain Energy provides equipment for the natural gas drilling industry.

The latest PPP poll has Romney taking the lead over former Senator Rick Santorum (R-VA).

Romney takes the lead in Pennsylvania
Mitt Romney's taken the lead in PPP's newest poll of Rick Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania. Romney has 42% to 37% for Santorum with Ron Paul at 9% and Newt Gingrich at 6%. The numbers represent a dramatic turnaround from when PPP polled the state a month ago. Romney's gained 17 points, going from 25% to 42%. Meanwhile Santorum's dropped 6 points from 43% to 37%, for an overall swing of 23 points in the last four weeks.

Rick is running to be the GOP frontrunner 2016 but if he loses PA in this election after getting blown out in 2006 that may end that hope.

A welcome committee led by Gene Stilp will be there to greet him.

Friends -

Mitt Romney is going to be in the 11th District, in Tunkhannock, on Thursday, to visit a manufacturing plant that supplies and operates equipment used for fracking. We need to send him a message about the dangers of fracking. I invite you to join me and Pignelope, the Pink Pig to tell him that this process and its effects are wrong!

Help Gene Meet Mitt!
Thursday, April 5th - 2:00pm
Lazy Brook Park
Tunkhannock, PA
(Put 16 Creekshore Road - Tunkhannock in your GPS)

Let's show Mitt Romney that fracking will pollute our water supply and harm our environment for decades to come. Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg with the problems with fracking. Mitt Romney has no idea what his buddy, Tom Corbett has done to let the gas companies off the hook. Help me tell him what Tom Corporate has done to give them tax breaks after they contributed over a million dollars to his campaign.

This is your chance to put your clean water advocate in Congress. Gene has fought for the Susquehanna and our environment for years.

Romney hits a triple, Santorum says it's halftime

The Man on Dog vs. Dog on Roof Republican Presidential primary followed the now familiar pattern of a few states up for grabs but only one them being competitive. Mitt Romney easily won DC and Maryland but was able to win by only 4 points Wisconsin after spending mega bucks to tear down Rick Santorum. But that is probably enough as Romney has been gathering the tepid endorsements of the GOP big wigs and everybody thinks he will be the nominee.

Next up in this scenario in April 24th with all the attention on Pennsylvania with Romney expected to win big in New York, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Not as good as the Democratic primary of 2008 but it looks like we will have the Republican candidates camped out in Pennsylvania for the next 3 weeks. If Rick can win PA which is not a given looking at the latest polls then the race goes south again. On to the Convention!

In other news (CNN) – President Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday.

Santorum wins Louisiana

Santorum 91,305 49%
Romney 49,749 27%
Gingrich 29,655 16%
Paul 11,460 6%


Romney Etch A Sketch: Is aide's comment a present for his foes?

Asked whether Mr. Romney had moved too far to the right for the general election, Mr. Fehrnstrom said that the GOP hopeful would hit a reset button for the fall campaign. “It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch,” he said. “You can kind of shake it up and restart it all over again.”

Romney is still favorite to win the Republican nomination but you have to wonder if the Etch A Sketch comment is a defining moment like John Kerry saying "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." Confirming the charge that he is flip flopper who will say anything to win an election. It reminds me of Dukakis in a tank, the Dean scream and his father saying he had been "brainwashed" by American generals into supporting the Vietnam war.

Next up April 3: District of Columbia, Maryland and Wisconsin then we have 3 weeks until the PA primary along with Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Rhode Island on April 24. Right now it looks like the only state Santorum can win out of this bunch is PA. After that the race goes south again to friendlier territory for Rick.

The Santorum camp sent out a statement to supporters:

Gort
The story in Louisiana yesterday was different than the one the Washington establishment and the Romney campaign are trying to sell us on.The exit polls in Louisiana shared some interesting information - when people can get to know the real Rick Santorum, he wins in almost every polled category. Rick won Tea Party voters, conservatives, moderates, liberals and every income group except one: people making over $200,000 a year (Mitt Romney won this group, but it was close).
We won because we had the resources to tell the real Rick Santorum story, and refute Romney's negative commercials and robocalls. Because when people get to know Rick's and Romney's real record, Rick wins every time.

John Featherman for Congress

I don't normally cover congressional races outside of NEPA but this ad from John Featherman is an instant classic.

In 2006 Featherman tried to run against then Senator Rick Santorum in the Republican primary but his petitions were challenged and didn't meet the picky standards. He has also run for other offices and this time around he is challenging 1st CD Congressman and Philadelpia Democratic Party Chairman Bob Brady.

From PoliticsPA: (NSFW)

Murphy on the air

The contest for the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania Attorney General is the 2nd most interesting race in our part of the Commonwealth after the 17th CD primary between Cartwright and Holden. The Man on Dog vs. the Dog on Roof Prez contest has kind of fizzled after Romney's blowout win in Illinois.

Patrick Murphy is winning the money primary outraising Kathleen Kane by 5 to 1 although Kane has $2 million cash on hand thanks to the generosity of her family.

I have to admit that I'm partial to fellow vet Murphy a graduate of King's College who had the honor of introducing President Clinton when he visited Wilkes-Barre in 1996. The first time I met him he told me "I read your blog." He attended the last Blogfest driving through a monsoon to get there. Hopefully he will attend our next together on March 30th and Tom will bring along Kathleen Kane. Republican David Freed has also been invited.

Here is the ad via PoliticsPA

Romney wins Illinois

Mitt Romney won the Illinois primary after out spending Rick Santorum 7 to 1 and some reports say it was 20 to 1 in Chicago media market. Rick's shoestring campaign, lack of discipline and poor organization is not going to be enough to catch the former liberal Governor of Massachusetts. Santorum again didn't have a full slate of delegates on the ballot. He was in Gettysburg tonight and will make his last stand in Pennsylvania on April 24th.


Mitt Romney 428,434 46.7%

Rick Santorum 321,079 35%

Ron Paul 85,464 9.3%

Newt Gingrich 72,942 8%

This comes after Romney's blowout win in Puerto Rico after Senador Puertorriqueño told the residents of the island to learn English. Then he told a state with a 9%+ jobless rate "I don't care what the unemployment rate is going to be. It doesn't matter to me. My campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates." Romney's camp beat him over the head for both remarks. Even though Paul and Gingrich are still in the race they are diminishing factors.

This Saturday Rick is favored in the Louisiana primary then DC, Maryland and Wisconsin look better for Romney.

As the Man on Dog vs. Dog on Roof contest continues some interesting polling was done by PPP looking to the fall.


Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Barack Obama's treatment of dogs?Favorable........................................................ 44%
Unfavorable .................................................... 14%
Not sure .......................................................... 42%


In general, do you think it is humane to put your family dog in a kennel on the roof of your car for a long car trip, or do you think that is inhumane?
Humane .......................................................... 14%
Inhumane........................................................ 68%
Not sure .......................................................... 18%

Mitt Romney once strapped his dog’s kennel to the roof of his car for a long car trip. Does this make you more or less likely to vote for him, or does it not make a difference?
More likely....................................................... 7%
Less likely ....................................................... 35%
Doesn't make a difference .............................. 55%
Not sure .......................................................... 2%

Bo rides inside and the Prez likes a Guinness.

Man on Dog vs. Dog on roof

Rick Santorum will always take grief for saying “In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality,”Santorum said. “That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.”

Mitt Romney just can't shake the dog abuse story .

Romney strapped a dog carrier — with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it — to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario, which the family apparently completed, despite Seamus's rather visceral protest.

Mitt said the dog enjoyed the trip

Dogs Against Romney has sunk it's teeth into this story and won't let go.

The good news for us political junkies is that the primary race will last until Pennsylvania on April 24th. Right now Rick looks to win his home state. The Q poll Pennsylvania Republicans overwhelmingly favor presidential hopeful Rick Santorum over Mitt Romney in the state’s April 24 primary, with the former Keystone State senator garnering 36 percent to the former Massachusetts governor’s 22 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and New York also vote that day.

Maybe we will see a few of the Presidential candidates at Blogfest on March 30 at Rooney's in Pittston.

Pennsylvania US Senate race

The latest polling has former State Rep Sam Rohrer leading the field of Republican contenders to replace Democrat Bob Casey who beat the last "conservative" in the presidential race Rick Santorum by 18% in 2006.

He's at 16% to 12% for Tom Smith, 10% for David Christian, 8% for Marc Scaringi, and 5% for Steve Welch. The big winner though is undecided- 48% of voters say they don't yet know who they'll choose.

Right now Casey beats them all handily. That will change.

Casey 49 – Rohrer 34
Casey 50 – Christian 32
Casey 49 – Smith 31
Casey 49 – Scaringi 29
Casey 49 – Welch 29

Santorum wins a double in the bible belt

Mrs. G loves the color of the tie.



Alabama




Rick Santorum 35% 212,343
Newt Gingrich 29% 179,919
Mitt Romney 29% 178,601
Ron Paul 5% 30,494

Mississippi

Rick Santorum 33% 93,182
Newt Gingrich 31% 88,676
Mitt Romney3 0% 85,922
Ron Paul 4% 12,498

Romney outspent his opponents 5 or 10 or 50 to 1 and can't still can't seal the deal.It looks like this race will last until Pennsylvania. Joe V has invited Rick Santorum to Blogfest so I shall invite Mitt, Newt and Ron.

Romney wins in the Pacific; Santorum licks the field in Kansas

The Virgin Islands have yet to report, Newt will probably not do well there.

Romney added to his delegate total by winning all 12 at stake in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands

The big prize today was Kansas and our former junior Senator and Virginia resident kicked ass.

Santorum 15,290 51%
Romney 6,250 21%
Gingrich 4,298 14%
Paul 3,767 13%

Rick picked up 33 delegates to Romney's 7. By all accounts Romney is ahead in the delegate race but every news site that is tracking it has different numbers because of the convoluted rules of the Republican Party. The Republicans in state legislatures are pushing "ballot security " measures like requiring everyone to show an ID but they can't get their own house in order.