Judge Joan Orie Melvin looks strong heading into the 2009 elections

Joan Orie Melvin’s impressive victory last night in the contested Republican Supreme Court primary election is a good sign for our Party as we begin the 2009 general election season. The race for the state Supreme Court is incredibly important to our Party and will no doubt serve as the premier race in the commonwealth this year. This convincing win provides Orie Melvin, her campaign and our Party with a tremendous amount of momentum heading…

Charles Munger and the current state of blame for the recession/depression

pMunger, who forewarned of the recession to some extent, sees a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Option_(finance)" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://en.wikipedia.org']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FOption_%28finance%29','options')">options and pThis position of lack of regulation being to blame, the one most supported by the court of public opinion, is eloquently a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/magazine/17wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=niall&st=cse" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.nytimes.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2009%2F05%2F17%2Fmagazine%2F17wwln-lede-t.html%3F_r%3D1%26amp%3Bscp%3D1%26amp%3Bsq%3Dniall%26amp%3Bst%3Dcse','refuted')">refuted by Niall Furguson in The New York Times.

It looks like America will see more regulation. Where this takes us is a much more difficult to forecast, but hopefully we can elect officals who have at least thought hard about these issues.

Frontrunner Toomey not looking behind him

When he was in Harrisburg Monday for a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon, Pat Toomey looked and acted like the candidate way out in front. He delivered a crisp rundown on why the economy is mess, even if he was a little short on specific solutions about how to right the course, other than saying the federal government was making a mistake by seizing so much control of the market.

And when he was done, Toomey…

U.S. Rep. Schwartz Announces Major Bill to Improve Health Care: Doctors, Nurses, and Other Health Care Providers Endorse Preserving Patient Access to Primary Care Act of 2009

By THE OFFICE OF CONGRESSWOMAN ALLYSON SCHWARTZ (D-13)

Washington, D.C. – Earlier today on Capitol Hill, numerous health care organizations joined U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) to announce a major new bill to improve health care in America. Schwartz’s bill, Preserving Patient Access to Primary Care Act of 2009 (H.R. 2350), addresses the critical shortage of primary care providers in America. Primary care is at the core of America’s health care system, and without a…

Specter’s coming 2nd epiphany on card-check

I have a story up now about how card-check is again Arlen Specter’s political litmus test, this time with the left instead of the right.

ANALYSIS: Once again, Specter’s fate could hinge on card-check

In March, Senator Arlen Specter was under an extraordinary amount of pressure regarding the Employee Free Choice Act. With attacks from the right becoming more fierce and his primary reelection prospects looking more and more difficult, Specter

‘Enhanced interrogation techniques’

There is a classic old rhetorical question used in teaching debaters how to back their opponents into a corner: “Have you stopped beating your wife, yet?” If the person being questioned blurts out yes, he admits to having beaten his wife in the past. If he answers no, the answer implies he is still beating his wife. The question is phrased in such a way that the person answering it cannot give a simple yes…

Knox’s guy loses a tough one

Tuesday had to be a disappointing evening for Josh Morrow, the campaign manager for gubernatorial hopeful Tom Knox. That’s because Morrow also managed the Philadelphia District Attorney campaign for Dan McCaffery, who lost last night’s primary by about 12 points.

Morrow has been splitting his time between the two campaigns, and with loads of support from organized labor and a significant financial advantage going into Election Day, McCaffery had been looking strong. Now Morrow will…

The First Read — May 20, 2009

Good Morning!

Every Monday-Thursday morning, pa2010.com compiles the most important political news of the day, from newspapers to the blogosphere and back. Enjoy this edition.

pstrongWhatever happened to that ‘formal endorsement’ for Specter?/strongbr /
On the day Senator Arlen Specter said he would switch parties, he proudly told reporters that Gov. Ed Rendell would soon join top members of his new party in Washington to give Specter a sweeping endorsement. a href="../2009/05/whatever-happened-to-that-%E2%80%98formal-endorsement%E2%80%99-for-specter/" target="_blank"Read More/a/p
pstrongWilliams wins DA race looks ahead to November/strongbr /
In a decisive victory that his supporters heralded as “historic,” R. Seth Williams won the Democratic primary for Philadelphia District Attorney last night taking more than 41 percent of the votes in five-man field. a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090519_Williams_wins_DA_race__looks_ahead_to_November.html?cmpid=16339736" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fnews%2Fbreaking%2F20090519_Williams_wins_DA_race__looks_ahead_to_November.html%3Fcmpid%3D16339736','Read+More')" target="_blank"Read More/abr /
strongMore Results:br /
/stronga href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090519_Melvin_tops_GOP_field_for_state_Supreme_Court.html?cmpid=16339736" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fnews%2Fbreaking%2F20090519_Melvin_tops_GOP_field_for_state_Supreme_Court.html%3Fcmpid%3D16339736','Melvin+tops+GOP+field+for+state+Supreme+Court')">Melvin tops GOP field for state Supreme Court
a href="http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2009/05/thompson_sets_early_pace_in_ma.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pennlive.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pennlive.com%2Fmidstate%2Findex.ssf%2F2009%2F05%2Fthompson_sets_early_pace_in_ma.html','Thompson+claims+win+in+Harrisburg+mayor%22s+race')"Thompson claims win in Harrisburg mayor’s race/abr /
a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090519_Dem-backed_judges_fall_short_in_Phila_.html?cmpid=16339736" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fnews%2Fbreaking%2F20090519_Dem-backed_judges_fall_short_in_Phila_.html%3Fcmpid%3D16339736','Dem-backed+judges+fall+short+in+Phila.')">Dem-backed judges fall short in Phila.
a href="http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.electionreturns.state.pa.us%2F','Department+of+State+Official+Returns')"Department…

PA DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIRMAN CONGRATULATES STATEWIDE JUDICIAL WINNERS

By THE PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

HARRISBURG:  Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney tonight
released the following statement regarding the primary election of statewide
judicial candidates:

“The Pennsylvania Democratic Party not only congratulates each of the
winners in the primary election, but also pledges to work hand in hand with
them as we improve upon our 73 percent victory rate since 2003.  The voters
have spoken and we will have a…