Pennsylania polls

There are 4 statewide races on the ballot tomorrow.

In the US Senate race Bob Casey (D) sort of fell asleep while Tom Smith (R) spent millions on TV ads singing the praises of coal. If I see that ad with that kid with the southern accent blaming the President and Casey for losing his job one more time because of regulations  I'm going to throw up. The fact that natural gas prices have decreased because of shale drilling is why utilities are switching to gas powered generators and need less coal. I thought Republicans believed in market forces. I think Casey holds on.


Kathleen Kane will be the next Attorney General of Pennsylvania. She has had a double digit lead in every public poll since the primary. I was a big supporter of Patrick Murphy in the primary but poor turnout in Philadelphia and the suburbs sunk him. I had a nice chat with David Freed at the Luzerne County GOP picnic in August. On my way out I told David Freed that I thought the AG's office would be in good hands whoever won. He said he felt the same way after the primary. He respects his opponent. Now that we are in closing days the ads have got tough. I really like that the Freed camp cited my Parking Ticket post in an ad but attributed it to WILK

Incumbent Treasurer Rob McCord, a Democrat from Bryn Mawr,will win big.  Republican challenger Diana Irey Vaughan, is  a Washington County commissioner,
Libertarian Patricia Fryman, the retired auditor of Venango County, is also on the ballot.

Auditor General is going down to the wire. Both candidates are on the air.  Rep. Eugene DePasquale, a Democrat from York County, and Rep. John Maher, a Republican from Allegheny County. I think they are also running for reelection as state reps. I don't think it should be allowed to run for 2 offices like Joe Lieberman or Paul Ryan. This is tossup but it's a Democratic year in PA. DePasquale wins.

 Kevin Blaum backs Maher .

Bill Clinton in Scranton tonight

Monday, November 5th

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

Scranton High School
63 Mike Munchak Way
Scranton, PA 18508

Click here for your ticket

NEPA is finally getting some surrogate love. 

Rudy Guiliani, former Senator Norm Coleman (MN)  and former Governor Bob Ehrlich (MD) were at the W-B Victory Center this morning supporting Governor Romney. Senate hopeful Tom Smith and AG candidate David Freed also attended . Senator Pat Toomey was there and Actor Jon Voight was the celeb attraction. 

Rick Perry in town today

Texas  Governor Rick Perry will be at the Wilkes-Barre GOP
Victory Center (34 S. Main St.) Saturday, November 3, 2012, along with GOP Senate candidate Tom Smith.  The event begins at 10am.




Joe Biden's visit got washed out by the storm but the Big Dog will be in Scranton Monday. TL: Former President Bill Clinton will be in Scranton Monday on the campaign trail, according to Democratic Party sources. Details to follow.

In another iteration of Lucy teeing up the football Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will also be in PA over the weekend.  PoliticsPA has the details.

MB:

In 2008, John McCain visited Pennsylvania the Sunday before the election, but Obama won the state.

In 2004, George W. Bush visited Pennsylvania the day before the election, but John Kerry won the state.

In 1996, Bob Dole visited Pennsylvania the Friday before the election, but Bill Clinton won the state.

In 1992, George H.W. Bush visited Pennsylvania the day of the election, but Bill Clinton won the state.

Charlie Brown never kicks the ball.

Reloading Pennsylvania polls

Something screwy is going on with the polls on the sidebar. Every time I refresh the page the number of votes casts decreases. So I deleted them and put them up again. I hope that fixes the problem, we will see.

So vote again folks.

The question is who do you think will win the election not who you are voting for.

We start off with the national and statewide elections.

Will President Obama be reelected or will mittmentum sweep Governor Romney into the White House?

Can Tom Smith leave Bob Casey in the coal dust?

Do PA voters voters make history by electing Kathleen Kane as the first woman Attorney General  or continue the Republican streak by going for David Freed?

Please vote on the left sidebar and tell us your predictions in the comments.

Pennsylvania Polls

It's a tradition on Gort42 to put up some polls on the sidebar the week before the election. The question is who do you think will win the election not who you are voting for. I'll have my predictions next weekend. I put up 3 races to start it off and will list more over the next few days.

We start off with the national and statewide elections.

Will President Obama be reelected or will mittmentum sweep Governor Romney into the White House?

Can Tom Smith leave Bob Casey in the coal dust?

Do PA voters voters make history by electing Kathleen Kane as the first woman Attorney General  or continue the Republican streak by going for David Freed?

Please vote on the left sidebar and tell us your predictions in the comments.

Another great Blogfest

We had so many people at Blogfest come and go on Friday night  that I lost count.

Like the last one 11th CD candidate Gene Stilp stole the show,  this time  he parked his pink pig bus in front of Rooney's in the afternoon then assembled his 10 foot tall Medicare wheelchair. He got 17th CD candidate Matt Cartwright to join in.

Full report in the morning..

The political bloggers that make Blogfest happen.

Yonk, Joe V and your humble narrator

More photos at this LINK

Even more photos on Joe V's Photobucket

Snarky Blogger time. Some Bigwigs weigh in on Blogfest.

  Joe Biden. "I hear this Blogfest is a big fucking deal."

 Mitt Romney. " I'm sorry I couldn't make it tonight, Blogfest sounds like great sport. I had a crises when my dancing horse got stuck in the car elevator again. 47% of YOU people can't even imagine the problems I have to deal with for Pete's sake.


GOP US Senate candidate Tom Smith responded to my invitation to Blogfest. "Where the hell is Pittston? Do they have coal there?"

 Bob Casey. " I introduced a resolution in the Senate recognizing Blogfest as a great Pennsylvania tradition but the Republicans filibustered it."

 Clint Eastwood. "What do you want me to tell Gort? I can’t tell him to do that. I can’t tell him to do that to himself."

Pennsylvania polling

In the Presidential race Republican leaning polling outfit Rasmussen Reports has President Obama leading Mitt Romney 47%-41% and the Democratic leaning pollster Public Policy Polling has a similar result with Obama topping Romney 50%-42%. The PPP crosstabs are interesting with the President's favorables about even but Romney is way underwater with 51% unfavorable to just 37% favorable. Governor Tom Corbett is also not well thought of with 50% disapproving of his job performance vs. 37% in favor.

In the Senate race Bob Casey has a 49% to 33%  lead over Bob Smith.  Smith and Steve Welch attacked each other for voting for Democrats in the past during the primary that probably left a bad taste in the mouth of Welch supporters and the state GOP. Smith's name recognition went up but so did his unfavorables.The more people get to know him the less they like him.

Democratic Attorney General candidate Kathleen Kane has the early lead over David Freed 42%-33% with 25% undecided. The hard fought primary with Patrick Murphy helped her get her name out there and Murphy's endorsement helps to close the the ranks of Democrats.Patrick is always a class act.

“Primaries are never easy. But it’s important to remember that this was a family fight. Now that it’s over, we must come together and rally behind our nominee. That’s why I am endorsing Kathleen Kane for Attorney General. Because in the end, Kathleen is Pennsylvania’s best choice for Attorney General,” Murphy said.

The contests for Auditor General and Treasurer are a wash at this point.

In other political news Nancy Pelosi  will be in town for a wedding and will make a side trip to help out 17th CD Democratic nominee Matt Cartwright raise money at a 10:30 a.m. lunch June 9 at the Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel in Scranton. That's early for this nocturnal blogger and a bit expensive.

The Republicans are always looking for some sort of  boogeyman and the soft spoken Grandmother from Sodom on the San Andreas fits the bill. Lately Chicago style  Democrats (corrupt)has replaced San Francisco Democrats (gay) in their lexicon.

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.

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