PA Blog

Tom Corbett (gov) Four former U.S. Attorneys have filed to run for office in Pennsylvania. Tuesday marked the deadline for major party candidates to file with the Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s office. The primary elections to decide who will run in the November general elections will take place May 18. Tom Corbett , who was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania by President George H.W. Bush in 1989 and served until 1993, is one of two candidates vying for the Republican nomination for governor. Current Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) is term limited. Corbett, who is the current state attorney general, will face state Rep. Sam Rohrer in the Republican primary. On the other side of the political aisle, four candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination: Montgomery County Commissioner and former U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel , Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato , state auditor general and former state Sen. Jack Wagner and state Sen. Anthony Williams . Several former U.S. Attorneys are seeking the nomination to run for Congress. Mary Beth Buchanan (Steve Pope) Mary Beth Buchanan , who served as the Western District of Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney from 2001 until November 2009, is one of two candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the 4th congressional district. She will face former Department of Homeland Security official Keith Rothfus in the Republican primary. Both candidates hope to challenge Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), who is unopposed in the Democratic primary. Patrick Meehan (doj) In the 7th congressional district, Pat Meehan , who led the Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney’s Office from 2001 to 2008, is running unopposed the in Republican primary.Three Democrats — attorney Gail Conner , state Rep. Bryan Lentz and political consultant E. Teresa Touey – are looking to win their party’s nomination. The candidates hope to replace Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), who is challenging Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) in the Democratic primary. Tom Marino (Tom Marino for Congress) Finally, Tom Marino , who was the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania from 2002 to October 2007, is one of three Republicans looking to unseat Rep. Chris Carney (D), who is unopposed in the Democratic primary. The other two Republicans seeking the nomination are chiropractor and 2006 state Senate candidate David Madeira and Snyder County Commissioner Malcolm Derk . Tags: Anthony Williams , Bryan Lentz , Chris Carney , Dan Onorato , David Madeira , Eastern District of Pennsylvania , Gail Conner , Jack Wagner , Jason Altmire , Joe Hoeffel , Joe Sestak , Keith Rothfus , Malcolm Derk , Mary Beth Buchanan , Middle District of Pennsylvania , Patrick Meehan , Pennsylvania , Pennsylvania governor’s race , Sam Rohrer , Teresa Touey , Tom Corbett , Tom Marino , U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania , Western District of Pennsylvania .

The 2010 Congressional Election next November may well be an historic one in terms of the number of incumbents that find themselves in the unemployment line.  I expect last Saturday’s eleventh-hour (literally) vote on Healthcare Reform will be one of the deciding factors for many Pennsylvanians on imposing term limits for their Congressional Representatives. In an in-your-face kind of way, the House Bill includes just about everything conservatives hate in a healthcare reform plan. But, rather than get bogged down in all those nasty details (like taxpayer funded abortion, care for illegal workers, and much higher taxes), let’s see how this goes in the Senate, where it has already been referred to as a “non-starter” by Senator Lindsay Graham. There, likely due to constitutional challenges, I think it will languish until after the mid-term elections. When it still comes up short of the needed Democrat votes, the failure will cost Barack Obama his re-election in 2012.

H.R. 3962:  How PA Voted

Yea:

Robert Brady – D, 1st
Christopher Carney  – D, 10th
Kathy Dahlkemper – D, 3rd
Mike Doyle – D, 14th
Chaka Fattah – D, 2nd
Paul Kanjorski – D, 11th
Patrick Murphy – D,  8th

John Murtha – D, 12th
Allyson Schwartz – D, 13th
Joe Sestak – D, 7th

Nay:

Jason Altmire  – D, 4th
Charles Dent – R, 15th
Jim Gerlach – R, 6th
Tim Holden – D, 17th
Tim Murphy – R, 18th
Joseph Pitts – R, 16th
Todd Platts – R, 19th
Bill Shuster – R, 9th
Glenn Tompson – R, 5th