Closing thoughts on that Leach endorsement pull—this time from the horse’s mouth

Loyal readers of pa2010.com Central will recall that when Daylin Leach pulled his support from Doug Pike last month, we engaged in all sorts of wild speculation about what it meant for his endorsement in the governor’s race and whether it had anything to do with the fact that his biggest political supporter is backing Pike’s opponent.

At the time, we couldn’t reach the state Senator from Montgomery County. But Leach spoke to use recently. So now that we’ve published our in-depth dissection of the behind-the-scenes endorsement fight going on in the 6th District primary, here are a couple closing thoughts from Leach himself.

For the record, Leach insists that Connie Williams’ support for Manan Trivedi had nothing to do with his decision.

“It really didn’t play a role,” Leach said. “My decision was made because in local races, as in races where people are running in my district, my usual policy is not to endorse in the primary. That is simply a selfish, self-preservationist policy. In any given year, I could have 100 endorsements I have to give. It could be tough to keep track of and I could upset people unnecessarily.

“I was premature in endorsing Doug, because I didn’t wait to see if there was anyone else in the race,” he added. “I will be happy to support either one of them if they’re the nominee.”

On a different note, he says he won’t be switching his endorsement from gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato to his local friend Joe Hoeffel—although Hoeffel could have had his support if he’d jumped in earlier.

“I contacted Joe Hoeffel months ago, urged him to run for governor and said I’d support him,” Leach said. “He was not interested at the time. At a certain point, I said, ‘Joe, if you’re not going to commit to running, I’m going to have to go in a different direction.’

“This was not a conditional endorsement where I didn’t know all the facts,” Leach added, contrasting it with a 6th District primary in which he thought Pike was the only candidate. “I knew it was possible Joe would get into the race.”

Meanwhile, he rejects the notion that he’s given anyone else political cover to go neutral in the 6th District.

“I am under no illusion that I have some great power to sway the electorate in this race or any other race,” Leach said. “As to political cover, I’m not sure what political cover is needed. If you’re talking about low-level elected officials, I don’t think any of them are going to lose an election in two years because of an endorsement. I don’t think objectively there’s any political cover gained by what I do. People may see political cover subjectively.”

And lastly… he thinks we’re making way too much of this.

“This is a tempest in a teapot,” Leach said. “The importance of these endorsements is wildly overblown. People don’t vote for people because of individual endorsements.”

On that, we’ll completely agree. But it’s fun inside-baseball to cover, isn’t it?

Anything else we keep in mind about the 6th District, Senator?

“I’m removing myself from this primary.”

Got it.