On enemy ground

NEW YORK—One of the nice things about the Pennsylvania Society weekend here is the apparent moments of political peace.

So there was Tom Knox’s campaign manager hanging out at opponent Jack Wagner’s reception. And two of Dan Onorato’s campaign staffers checking out Joe Hoeffel’s late-night reception. And Sam Rohrer briefly mulling outside Onorato’s party.

Seems we can all just get along.

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Day 1 rumor mill and wrap up

NEW YORK—It was a day of non-stop politicking here Friday in midtown Manhattan. Here are a few things we’re hearing.

-—Lonely in D.C: Looks like the health care debate in Washington held up Senators Bob Casey and Arlen Specter. It may even make them miss whole weekend, but we hear they might show up later on Saturday. Specter certainly can’t afford to miss important moments for all the guff he’s given Joe Sestak about his…

Stensland blasts Pa. pols for being in NYC

NEW YORK—Amid rumors that she would be appearing her to discuss her

Wagner: ‘Not a campaign about money’

NEW YORK—Let’s face it, there’s a prevailing perception in political circles that Auditor General Jack Wagner can’t raise the money to be competitive in his Democratic bid for governor.

Wagner isn’t having it.

“What Pennsylvania needs is somebody who can provide the leadership to reform this government,” Wagner told pa2010.com during a reception for his campaign here Friday evening. “The public’s smart enough to understand that, and they know that I’ve been talking about these…

Kortz: ‘We’re gonna surprise some people’

NEW YORK—State Representative Bill Kortz (D-Allegheny) wants to be the state’s next U.S. Senator. But he can’t even get independent pollsters to include him in their surveys.

“I have not called any of the pollsters,” Korts said Friday.

Kortz’s campaign, he said, commissioned its own poll. He said it found him garnering 11 percent of the primary vote.

“We’re gonna surprise some people,” he said. “They don’t take us for real.”

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Faux Todd Eachus and Jim Cawley sightings

NEW YORK—So this was fun. Hanging at the ESPN Zone here earlier today, I saw someone with the name tag Todd Eachus. I’ve never met the state House Majority Leader, so I went to introduce myself.

“You’ve got the wrong Todd Eachus,” he tells me.

Turns out he works for Comcast.

That would have been fine. But 10 yards and two minutes later, I see a guy with the name tag Jim Cawley. He looked…

Barletta: Kanjorski doesn’t have Obama this year

NEW YORK—Republicans were pretty confident they would unseat Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-11) last year. If the mood at Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta’s reception here Friday is any indication, they’re almost cocky this time.

Amid chatter of things being different in Barletta’s third run against Kanjorski this decade, Republicans took solace in one key political change: Barack Obama will not be on the ballot.

“There’s no Barack Obama this year,” Barletta told pa2010.com during a brief…

Day 1 at the Pa. Society: A live blog

NEW YORK—Welcome to the Friday live blog on pa2010.com Central. Here you’ll be able to follow our every move, from Times Square to the Waldorf-Astoria. This thread will be running all the way passed midnight, as we soak in the political gossip scene that is the Pennsylvania Society weekend.

So keep those browsers at pa2010.com. And don’t forget to check out our Full Story

In New York this weekend? Send us your dispatches

If you’re a political insider in midtown Manhattan

What’s going on right now… and why you can’t go

NEW YORK—Good afternoon, political junkies. It’s a frigid day in midtown Manhattan, where Pennsylvania’s political establishment is descending en masse.

We’ll be starting a live-blog for the day soon, but in case you’re wondering, there’s already some action going on. But unless your one of a select few, don’t plan on partaking.

State GOP big-wigs are meeting at the W Hotel for a fundraising luncheon with Karl Rove.

A small group of lobbyists is at…