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Despite strong close by Watkins, Cawley finishes atop Lt. Gov. straw polls

Despite strong close by Watkins, Cawley finishes atop Lt. Gov. straw polls

With the GOP’s regional caucus straw votes completed, Bucks County Commissioner Jim Cawley appears to be going into next weekend’s Republican State Committee meeting as the odds-on-favorite to win the party’s endorsement for Lieutenant Governor.

Caucuses in northeast Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley region both met Saturday to cast their votes, which are not binding but serve as a barometer of where the statewide party will lean when it meets in Harrisburg to make a formal endorsement. Political operative Joe Watkins was the lead vote-getter in the northeast with 10 votes, but Cawley was close behind him with seven, according to unofficial tallies that emerged from the meeting. Watkins also led candidates in the Lehigh Valley with nine votes, compared to seven for Cawley.

But thanks in large part to his strength in the southeast, Cawley finished the straw-poll process with a wide lead over his rivals. Some tallies showed him with 101 votes, followed by 66 for former Lancaster GOP chairman Chet Beiler and 48 for Watkins. If Montgomery County’s 23 committee votes are added to Cawley’s total, he has 124 (there have been conflicting reports regarding to whom those votes were committed).

While Beiler has had strong showings throughout the state, there is wide agreement that the party will look for a southeast candidate to provide geographic balance for presumptive top-ticket nominee Tom Corbett. And with Chester County Commissioner Carol Aichele unable to get much traction throughout the state—she finished with 28 votes by some counts—the race increasingly looks like a two-way contest between Cawley and Watkins.

After the party makes its endorsement, the crowded field is sure to narrow significantly. Candidates staking their runs on outsider credentials—people like Steve Johnson and Russ Diamond—will likely stay in the race. But Watkins may be the only contending candidates with the financial resources and political gravitas to stay in the race if he doesn’t get the endorsement.

With six days until endorsement time, though, Cawley seems like the consensus front-runner.

share001btn Despite strong close by Watkins, Cawley finishes atop Lt. Gov. straw polls

February 7, 2010 at 4:36 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

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  1. Jessie

    Feb 8th, 2010

    Asher got Aichele into the race. Then he got Cawley into the race. That way, “his” SE candidate will win no matter what. Carol and Chesco have finally learned what Montco, and Delco have already figured out: Asher can’t be trusted and is out only for himself. The candidates Asher gives the GOP like wife beating Tom Ellis, and Traitor Jim Matthews are always the “losers” the people that if lightening stuck and they got elected wouldn’t be a threat to Asher. Kind of like Schweiker and now Cawley. Until the Republican Party purges itself of the cancer that is Bob Asher, it will continue to flounder and lag behind the national trend favoring the GOP.

  2. Anonymous

    Feb 8th, 2010

    After the Illinois Democratic Lt. Gov disaster, national and state folks around the nation are becoming keenly aware of the importance of vetting and primarying a qualified and quality candidate. That person should have the ability to ably augment the top of the ticket and help reach voters outside the realm of a narrow base.

    Pennsylvania is now a very big deal and a national spotlight will shine on it from here on out.

  3. Tommy Tamlonsen

    Feb 8th, 2010

    At least Steve Johnson is the one candidate for LG out there who is actually going after the insiders instead of sucking up to them like a trained puppy:

    http://www.NoMoreInsiders.com

    the name says it ALL!

  4. However....

    Feb 8th, 2010

    The “Trained Puppy” has teeth:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2uZ3oWF7rU

  5. NoMoreLIES

    Feb 9th, 2010

    Watkins reminds me of another Obama – just say anything to get elected… Hopefully we’ve learned from that mistake! This guy sucks up so much, I can barely stand it!

    It is time to clean house wherever and whenever we get the chance. The people’s best bet to clean house in PA is to start with an outsider for Lt. Gov. – Steve Johnson fits that bill. I’m more and more impressed with him the more I learn about him.

  6. Anonymous

    Feb 9th, 2010

    To No More Lies,

    Mr. Johnson just completely undercut his message of being an “Outsider”. I’d be less worried about Watkins sucking up and more concerned about Johnson and his “Do as I say, not as I do” approach to winning a primary.

    If Johnson were a serious outsider, you don’t need State Committee endorsements, you would not even care about the caucus straw polls, you would have just gone straight to the people, right??

    So why spend the lions share of your dollars to a Harrisburg insider who got you nowhere and then come back and say “NoMoreInsiders” when you just used one to further your efforts….it’s not the other candidates I’d be getting upset about….

  7. John

    Feb 13th, 2010

    Cawley is the worse choice for the Republicans. A Corbett/Cawley (white-man) ticket is just another reason to vote for the Democrats!

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