The First Read — August 6, 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.

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Welch staffs up in PA-7
Republican Congressional candidate Steven Welch is beginning to build a campaign team for his run at the 7th District seat being vacated by Joe Sestak, and has hired a prominent media consultant, a pollster and a new media strategist, a campaign insider told pa2010.comRead More

Platts endorses Gerlach
Congressman Todd Platts (R-19) threw his support behind Congressman Jim Gerlach’s (R-6) gubernatorial bid on Wednesday, giving Gerlach his first publicly announced endorsement as he seeks to build momentum in the uphill primary against state Attorney General Tom Corbett. Read More

House Ds Paid Themselves Before State Workers
Moments after Tuesday’s vote on the Frankenbudget, House Democrats issued a triumphant press release proclaiming that they’d “[led] the charge to pay state workers,” who’ve been going without pay or living on partial pay since July 1. But before they cast that epochal vote, Democrats made sure their own members, who also have not been paid since June 1, got their paychecks as well. Read More

Governor Ed Rendell signs partial budget restoring employee pay
About 77,000 Pennsylvania state workers will finally be paid and billions of dollars become available for welfare checks under a partial budget bill Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law Wednesday. Read More

Q&A with Governor Ed Rendell on Pennsylvania’s budget
Governor Ed Rendell talks budget. Read More

Lentz will make formal announcement for Sestak’s seat soon
FOLSOM—State Representative Bryan Lentz (D-Delaware), already building a campaign to succeed Congressman Joe Sestak in the 7th District, will be formally announcing his candidacy at some point over the next month, Lentz told pa2010.com. Read More

Dent goes it alone on cash-for-clunkers vote
U.S. Representative Charlie Dent was the lone member of the 19-lawmaker Pennsylvania House delegation to oppose expanding the popular “cash-for-clunkers” program last week, a move that could win plaudits from fiscal conservatives but leave cash-strapped area dealerships upset with the three-term Republican. Read More

U.S. Attorney erases criticism of Fumo judge
Federal prosecutors took back their scorching criticism of U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter Wednesday, two days after blasting his 55-month sentence for former State Sen. Vincent Fumo as “a travesty.” Read More

Emails Show Santorum Was Tipped To Affair The Day Before Ensign Went Public
The John Ensign story just won’t go away — and that’s not good news for the Silver State philanderer. Read More

With Gerlach gone, Ds look to pounce in the 6th
Democratic congressional candidates have lost the last four elections in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District by a combined 10.4 percentage points, coming as close as a 3,155-vote defeat in 2006. Read More Wednesday.

Have a great day!