Welch Campaign Update

By STEVEN WELCH FOR CONGRESS

Dear [Xxx],

I am excited to tell you that our campaign is off to a great start and wanted to provide you a brief update.

I have been overwhelmed by the number of people that have reached out offering assistance and support to our campaign. As someone who has never been in politics, I had no idea what to expect when we entered this race. What I have quickly learned…

Racism and hypocrisy on display at Sotomayor hearings

Did anyone watch any of the confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor last week?

Dios mio.

While our own newly-minted Democratic senator, Arlen Specter peppered the nominee with questions ranging from wireless wiretaps to voting rights to televisions in the court, his former colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle seemed intent on following the

Independents trend Republican in guv race, poll shows

If the eventual Republican nominee for governor can pull enough Democrats to his side that the race comes down the independent voters, the GOP has good reason to think it can win back the Governor’s Mansion after eight years.

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Corbett leads Republicans in new guv poll and Dems in tight race; Rendell approval slips

Reflecting his strong name recognition from two statewide election victories, Attorney General Tom Corbett holds a significant lead over his Republican rivals in the race for governor, according to a new poll. But the Democratic primary is in a statistical dead heat, giving even more reason for other candidates to consider jumping into the contest.

The Quinnipiac University poll released today, which also gave lame-duck Gov. Ed Rendell his lowest apporval ratings to date, showed…

The First Read — July 21, 2009

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.

Sign up for The First Read. And for all the latest news, log on to pa2010.com, your destination for Pennsylvania’s big 2010 elections.

THE RUMOR MILL: Fire alarms, Schwartz for Governor and McCaffery for Congress?
Asked is she would ever run for Governor, Congresswoman Schwartz was cautious. Dan McCaffery was slightly less…

More firmly now, Wagner says he’s running for governor

After carefully pIn a wide-ranging a href="http://kdka.com/politics/Jack.wagner.governor.2.1093568.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://kdka.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fkdka.com%2Fpolitics%2FJack.wagner.governor.2.1093568.html','interview+with+Pittsburgh%22s+KDKA-TV')" target="_blank"interview with Pittsburgh’s emKDKA-TV/em/a, Wagner, a Democrat, was asked if he’s running./p
p“Yes I am,” he said./p
pUsually in recent months, Wagner’s has been quick to add the caveat that he hasn’t yet declared his candidacy. Only 10…

Specter Urges PA State Senate, U.S. Dept. of Labor to Enact Legislation Extending Unemployment Benefits to Pennsylvanians

By THE OFFICE OF SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) advocated on behalf of thousands of out-of-work Pennsylvanians in a letter to Lieutenant Governor Joe Scarnati.  Senator Specter urged Pennsylvania’s Senate to follow the House’s lead in swift passage of House Bill 1770 to provide for an additional seven weeks of federally-funded extended unemployment benefits for Pennsylvanians who have exhausted claims to current unemployment benefits.

“This obviously is very…

‘Blue Dog’ Democrats all bark, no bite

In the past few weeks, the “Blue Dog” Democrats gained a lot of media attention for having claimed that they opposed Gov. Ed Rendell’s plan for a major increase in the personal income tax. But when given a chance to show everyone that they stand for fiscal responsibility, almost every single one of the “Blue Dog” Democrats proved they are all bark and no bite.

“Blue Dog” Democrats had two options on Friday: raise taxes…

Yet another GOPer floated for Lt. Gov.

As if there weren’t enough Republicans on the list of potential Lieutenant Governor candidates, there’s one more name to add: Jim Cawley.

The Bucks County Commissioner tells The Intelligencer that he wants to help state Attorney General Tom Corbett win the governorship, and is already pitching in for the GOP front-runner’s fundraising efforts.

“I’m going to help Tom Corbett change Pennsylvania and if the way I can do that is by being on a ticket…

THE RUMOR MILL: Fire alarms, Schwartz for Governor and McCaffery for Congress?

An occasional series of articles exploring political gossip in the air, whether there’s truth to it or not.

PHILADELPHIA—Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz (D-13) was at City Hall here today for a press conference on healthcare reform efforts. I made my way up the Mayor’s Reception Room in the hopes of talking to her. Ever since I included her in my list of