TODD 1,031,490 26.3%
MCCAFFERY 1,177,057 30.0%
LALLY-GREEN 957,247 24.4%
KRANCER 755,296 19.3%
Donohue (D), Allen(R ), Shogun(R ) appear also headed for election to Superior Court.
In Beaver County, Dems retain control of county commission with Tony Amadio replacing the retiring Dan Donatella. Joe Spanik (D) and Charley Camp(R ) were reelected.
Courtesy of AAJ
links to MontCo, BucksCo and DelCo county elections. The GOP held on to both MontCo
and BucksCo commissions, but the results were much closer than I’m sure the Republicans
in these former strongholds would have liked. Democratic state-wide candidate for judge won
in both these counties which is a really bad sign for the Republicans.
State of the Status Quo...
For Pittsburgh Republicans and Philadelphia Democrats, the more things change, the more they…well, you know the saying. It seems that voters yesterday chose to keep things pretty much the way they are. As opposed to Dems sweeping the “collar commissions”, as I call them, the GOP appeared the run the table, as they always seem to do. They even held most of the down-ballot races as well. In the Pittsburgh region, Republicans lost even more ground on the County Council, although they lost a seat they probably shouldn’t have won back in 2003. Other southwestern county commissions kept their Dem majorities, as expected, although Republicans appeared to knock out the six-term DA in Washington County, which was a small but notable achievement. True, Dems appeared to pick up a seat on the state Supreme Court, but it appeared to be by the smallest of margins, and Debra Todd doesn’t appear to be Ruthie Ginsburg. Republicans will probably keep their majority on the state Superior Court (aka the “workhorse” court), with the election of Jackie Shogan and Cheryl Allen. I don’t know if any other KPers agree with me here, but for an election that supposedly had the makings of a “sea-change” across the state (Dems in the southeast, DeSantis/Ravenstahl, etc.), the waters barely seemed to ripple, no? Dems failed to capitalize on their gains in the southeast last year, and Republicans couldn’t move the electoral dial in the southwest. It’s like going to Uncle John’s for Thanksgiving every year. In the back of your mind, you know the stuffing is going to taste the same, yet you hold out hope that Aunt Martha will finally add that extra bit of flavor after all those years. That’s why the good Lord created salt (and Turkey Bowls)...
Isolated Change
Change was not whole-scale as you suggested, but it did happen, an in some cases, dramatically.
In the Lehigh Valley, a 2nd class township opted for 1st class status, tossing the GOP machine into the grinder and requiring the county courts to appoint 5 commissioners in January, all of whom will stand election in 2 years. This was no small feet, as office holders were using their taxpayer resouces to try and hang on for dear life. In Allentown, the last remaining R was tossed from council and the new council members are all new to city gov’t. One has lived in the city for 3 years. Another is under 30 (life long resident) and the final is the first woman to serve on council in 2 years.
In Berks County, the incumbent DA was tossed for a guy who made the primary ballot as a write in. The county commission throw off the incumbent D, kept the incumbent R, added a new R and a new D.
I guess I offer this as a question: what if the Philly mayoral would have been a barn burner for turn out… similar to 2003. Based on the math, the high court seats split 3-2 (2 dems/0 Rs on the Supreme, 2 Rs/1 D on the superior). And those races were close. If turn out in Philly would have been at the 2003 level, would dems have swept the whole thing? I dont’ know, I’m just asking? But the lesson is the same lesson we have been seeing for years… outcomes of statewide elections can be traced directly to turn out in the SE. If turn out is high or low, at this time, we can reasonably expect certain outcomes. That lesson alone might continue to craft strategy for statewide elections for the next 20 years.
The court races probably would have been different
If Philadelphia’s turnout had been higher, I’ll say Dems might have captured at least one more seat on Superior court. But, the mayoral contest was is usually decided in the Dem primary and with no real Republican opponent and no other compelling races (ie, Rendell), there’s not a big reason to turn out and vote.
pd
Superior Court Seats and Democratic Turnout
PD, you are right that the Dems would have done better in the Superior Court race if turnout had been higher in Philadelphia. From what I can tell, Nutter’s efforts to encourage turnout were not adequately supported by the city and state democratic committees.
The western part of the state always comes out in full force for judicial candidates from the Pittsburgh region. Judicial candidates from Pittsburgh area also helped that the Pittsburgh mayoral race coincides with the judicial races.
If the Democrats are truly invested in turning the various statewide and collar county judicial benches blue, they have to work very hard on increasing turnout for off-year elections.
Nutter wasn't a compelling candidate
BR, I honestly don’t think Michael Nutter was all that compelling a candiate that even in an off-year election people wanted to come out and vote for him anyway. Rendell never had any competition yet Philadelphians WANTED to come out and vote for him. Street got a lot of voters out because many really disliked him and came out to vote that way, but voted for other down ballot Dems.
I’ve said this before, but Nutter has virtually no allies in city government and little political capital except in the liberal bloc in center city.
pd
Wow, PD, spoken like a member of the Democratic machine
PD,
If the voters of Philadelphia had wanted more of the same, they would have voted for Fattah in the primary. Don’t forget that voters also tossed two other machine politicians – Carol Campbell and Danny Savage – to the curb in the primary.
The fact that Nutter has virtually no allies in city government is exactly the reason why Philadelphians wanted Nutter as mayor. Philadelphians are tired of the corruption, they are tired of a City Council that is down right rude during hearings, they are tired of arrogant leaders who care only about themselves and their cronies.
-blackrobe
Spoken like someone who doesn't live in Philly
Personally, I don’t and didn’t have a dog in this fight. My vote wasn’t cast in Philadelphia this week. Nutter got a plurality not a majority in the primary.
Further, don’t forget Nutter’s a ward leader for Brady, so he is also part of the “machine”. Nutter also sent a few pesos Carol Campbell’s way when she was one of his constituents. Nutter went to St Joe’s Prep, as well. It doesn’t get any more “old boys club” than that. Nutter cozied up to John Perzel when it suited his purposes. I can’t recall much criticism of the PPA from him since Perzel took it over, can you?
Remember, people with no allies don’t get much done because they must exhaust themselves fighting for every little thing. That’s part of the reason Nutter was a relatively
ineffective councilman.
Nutter reminds me of Wilson Goode, but without as many redeeming qualities. I stand by my prediction of what will happen and add that in 4 years Bill Green will be mayor of Philadelphia.
pd
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