After an electoral sweep, Doherty eyes higher office

Scranton Mayor Chis Doherty pulled off an unusual Election Day coup this month when the Democrat won his party’s nomination for reelection while also winning the Republican nomination as a write-in candidate. Now, the popular mayor is rumored to be eyeing bigger things, with potential runs for Congress or Lieutenant Governor in the mix.

If he runs for Congress, he could find himself a surprisingly crowded primary field against Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-11). Lackawanna County…

I’m back, and Chris Carney never left

I sometimes wonder what is wrong with the 10th District… I love it because it contains my Camp, but other than that… I don’t know what to say.

In 2008, Dan Meuser was a moderate choice for Congress. But, he got the boot from the GOP nomination from the Club for Growth’s friend Chris Hackett, who lost by 13 points in November. And according to various reports, two more staunch conservatives are ready to challenge…

Specter and Sotomayor

Interesting to see his response. I suspect he will ask all sorts of seemingly tough questions to demonstrate that he’s still a player, but hard to see him opposing her. He is too new as a Democrat and has already annoyed too many people on peripheral issues. Maybe he’ll go after anyone who questions her—a sort of Anita Hill in reverse, although one doubts that similar issues will arise.

Perhaps more interesting is the response…

Senator Specter making the rounds with Pa. Dems

Senator Arlen Specter continues to reach out to Democratic leaders all over Pennsylvania as he builds momentum and support within the state’s Democratic Party.

For the past three weeks, Specter has been taking questions from Democratic county chairs and Democratic elected officials who have joined him on a series of conference calls.

Gov. Ed Rendell and state Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney have also been in on conversations exchanges with Specter.

Yesterday, Rendell reminded us…

Magid’s fundraiser could affect Meehan campaign

Laurie Magid, the interim replacement for gubernatorial hopeful and former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan, was pShe had previously worked with Meehan when he was a District Attorney in Delaware County, and she…

The First Read — May 27, 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.

pstrongIts official: Specter is a Democrat/strongbr /
Though he announced his intention to switch parties last month, only more recently did Senator Arlen Specter officially become a member of the Democratic Party. a href="../2009/05/its-official-specter-is-a-democrat/"Read Morebr /
/abr /
strongScranton backs Toomey for Senate/strongbr /
In another sign that Republicans are lining up behind a Senate candidate, former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton today endorsed Pat Toomey for the party’s nomination. a href="../2009/05/scranton-backs-toomey-for-senate/" target="_blank"Read More/abr /
strongbr /
THE PRESS ROOM: Kortz gets some CQ love/strongbr /
It’s no secret that in state Representative Bill Kortz’s insurgent campaign for Senate, the biggest challenge is just getting people to listen. Kortz, the Allegheny County Democrat who has made clear he won’t be stepping aside for Senator Arlen Specter, got his first national press victory today, in the form of a fawning profile in Congressional Quarterly. a href="../2009/05/the-press-room-kortz-gets-some-cq-love/"Read More/a/p
pstrongParadegoers encourage Sestak to seek Senate seat/strongbr /
U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, dodging through the marchers in the Springfield Memorial Day Parade, sprinted from one side of Powell Road to the other yesterday to shake hands, pass out his business cards – and feel the love. a href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20090526_Parade_goers_encourage_Sestak_to_seek_Senate_seat.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.philly.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Finquirer%2Fworld_us%2F20090526_Parade_goers_encourage_Sestak_to_seek_Senate_seat.html','Read+More')"Read More/a/p
pstrongSpecter lauds court pick/strongspan class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f08d0c; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;"br /
/spanContinuing his recent mindfulness of his new party, Senator Arlen Specter today voiced support for President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. a href="../2009/05/specter-backs-court-pick/" target="_blank"Read More/aa href="http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1243137963308680.xml&coll=3"br /
/astrongbr /
Obama nominates a judge, so Toomey, of course, bashes Specter/strongbr /
You’ve got to hand it to the people over at Pat Toomey’s campaign: Even with Senator Arlen Specter on the other side of the aisle, the Toomey folks won’t let an opportunity to attack Specter go by. a href="../2009/05/obama-nominates-a-judge-so-toomey-of-course-bashes-specter/"Read More/a/p
pstrongDid Dems err on Arlen Specter’s switch?/strongbr /
Seniority is so important to senators that the Democrats’ move to knock Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) to the bottom of the seniority ladder so quickly after he joined their party may have seriously hurt their credibility with future party switchers. Indeed, while no Republican is currently considering switching sides, Democrats may have lost a critical bargaining chip if they ever want to woo other disaffected Republicans, according to many senators and aides. a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22939.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.politico.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F0509%2F22939.html','Read+More')">Read More

Toomey would lose out financially if he wins U.S. Senate seat
Pat Toomey will earn just a fraction of what he’s used to if he wins the U.S. Senate race next year. The Republican candidate brought in nearly $900,000 in earned income in 2008 and during the…

Onorato Announce Job Training Program for Returning Veterans

By THE OFFICE OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY EXECUTIVE DAN ONORATO

PITTSBURGH — Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato today announced a $311,000
grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry to train 80 returning veterans for
welding jobs. The County Executive was by joined by members of the Three Rivers Workforce
Investment Board (TRWIB), Steamfitters Local 449, and the Pittsburgh Regional Building
Trades Council.

“As more troops return home after tours of…

Obama nominates a judge, so Toomey, of course, bashes Specter

You’ve got to hand it to the people over at Pat Toomey’s campaign: Even with Senator Arlen Specter on the other side of the aisle, the Toomey folks won’t let an opportunity to attack Specter go by.

The latest is Toomey’s statement about President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. In a statement this afternoon, Toomey said: “For the past twenty years, the Supreme Court confirmation process has very regrettably become a…

It’s official: Specter is a Democrat

Though he announced his intention to switch parties last month, only more recently did Senator Arlen Specter officially become a member of the Democratic Party.

When Specter made his ground-shaking announcement, voter registration was closed leading up the the recent Pennsylvania primary. But with the primary now over, his spokeswoman confirmed that Specter mailed in his voter registration form last week, checking the box for Democrat instead of Republican.

Now all he has to do…

Focus shifting from economy to national security?

I imagine that most political analysts will tell you that the economy will be the No. 1 political issue next year, but that could be changing. I am really beginning to get the feeling that our country may be focused on a dangerous world environment, as I believe the potential for another terrorist attack has drastically increased over the last few months.

Don’t believe me, look at the news! With news that North Korea successfully…