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THURSDAY MORNING NUGGETS: Knox wins a straw poll, Colbert calls Sestak a lock and more

Sometimes, the news comes in little drops.

Like when Tom Knox won a small straw poll of gubernatorial candidates at the Columbia County Democratic Committee picnic last weekend. The Knox campaign tells me he won 32 percent of the vote, edging Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty’s 26 percent. Twenty-four percent were undecided, 9 percent went for Jack Wagner, 6 percent went for Dan Onorato and Joe Hoeffel got 3 percent.

Don’t get too excited if you’re a Knox fan. Only about 60 insiders participated in the poll, and Knox was the only candidate standing right there in front of them. What it’s a bigger indication of, though, is that several weeks after I questioned Knox’s outreach strategy, he’s clearly making inroads and getting around the state. His presence in local media, almost nonexistent before, is gradually on the rise, and more people tell me they’ve heard from him or met him personally.

What happens next is anyone’s guess.

Stephen Colbert doesn’t traffic in guesses. He calls ‘em like he sees ‘em. He had Joe Sestak on his show last night, and after outing Sestak for giving up top-secret information about laser-armed U.S. military dolphins, he called Sestak’s candidacy against Arlen Specter “a lock.” It’s a fun interview. Check it out here. Did you know Sestak has a 4-year old daughter who’s been sick? I seem to recall him mentioning that before.

Oh, and I forgot to mention this Tuesday, but Sestak also has a netroots coordinator now. It’s that Democratic commiteeman and Open Left blogger Chris Bowers, who first voiced his support for Sestak back in June. He e-mailed the online press shortly before Sestak’s official announcement. Although I must quibble with Bowers’ assumption that “you are a progressive blogger in Pennsylvania.”

Rememer folks, pa2010.com Central is playing it strictly down-the-middle.

August 6, 2009 at 8:01 am

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Joe Sestak, Tom Knox

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