O’Brien wants 10 forums with Kanjorski

Even by the standards of today’s campaign debate challenges, this one might be aiming high.

Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O’Brien’s congressional campaign is seeking 10 candidate forums with incumbent Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-11) between now and the May 18 primary day, allotting two for each of the counties in the district. The request was made in a letter Tuesday from O’Brien’s campaign manager to Kanjorski’s campaign manager.

“In this critical election year,” campaign manager Justin…

Specter’s favorite fib: I voted more with Democrats

Every politician has a favorite falsehood, and Arlen Specter seems to who have found his for this election cycle.

As he courts Democrats for his first primary race in the party, he often says that, even as a Republican, he voted more often with Democrats than with the GOP. I’ve heard him say this at least three times in the last month or so.

It’s a nice sound bite. But it’s not true.

The metrics…

Brian Gordon, candidate for Congress… in 2012?

WEST CHESTER—As he waited for a chance to court Chester County Democrats here last weekend,

The call that Williams never made

Riding high earlier this month after

Murtha and the 12th District

The death of Congressman John Murtha (D-12) has drawn understandable statements of sympathy from across the Commonwealth, together with an equally understandable street-fight to succeed him. Each of these merits a brief comment.

First, Murtha himself. Certainly he deserves admiration for his military background and his defense of his district’s interests. Yet Murtha represented much of what was worst in the state’s political culture. Instead of generating new wealth, he and his policies basically moved…

Critz: ‘I kept my aspirations private’

The former district director for the late Congressman John Murtha officially launched a campaign to replace his old boss Monday night—and did so with a pointed jab at his opponents for making their intentions known so soon after Murtha’s death.

Mark Critz said in a statement that he resigned as district director earlier in the day, and that he was seeking the Democratic nod both in the special election to finish out Murtha’s term and…

Mark Critz announcement of candidacy for 12th C.D.

By MARK CRITZ FOR CONGRESS

Today at 5:00 p.m., I officially resigned my position with the Office of the 12^th Congressional District. I am announcing my intentions to seek both the nomination for the special election to serve out the remainder of the current term and will immediately begin circulating petitions to secure my spot on the Democrat Primary ballot.

Unlike the other candidates and in deference to Mrs. Murtha, I kept my aspirations private…

Sestak looks to pressure Obama on his support for Specter (Video)

Democrat Joe Sestak’s campaign has posted a Web video and petition critical of President Obama for supporting Senator Arlen Specter, in what clearly amounts to the campaign’s most direct attempt to date at pressuring Obama and the Democratic establishment for backing Specter.

The video, published on Sestak’s campaign Web site Monday and embedded below, mimics

Williams officially enters race for governor

The Democratic primary for governor is again a four-way race, after state Senator Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia) formally jumped into the fray on Monday.

Williams, who’s been considering a run ever since Philadelphia businessman Tom Knox dropped out of the race last month, made his candidacy official during an address to the Pennsylvania Press Club in Harrisburg. Well-known in Philadelphia and hailing from what is essentially the First Family of black politics in the city, his…

12th District notes: Joyce Murtha out, Critz and Cernic in (Updated)

A few more 12th District pieces came into focus Monday.

The Fix pMeanwhile, emCQ Politics/em a href="http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/02/top-murtha-staffer-likely-to-r.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://blogs.cqpolitics.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.cqpolitics.com%2Feyeon2010%2F2010%2F02%2Ftop-murtha-staffer-likely-to-r.html','reports')" target="_blank"reports/a that Murtha’s district director Mark Critz will soon enter the race, adding a candidate intimately familiar with the district into the mix. Former Cambria County Controller Albert Penska also might run./p
pAnd emThe Tribune-Democrat/em a href="http://www.tribune-democrat.com/local/local_story_053104525.html?keyword=topstory" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.tribune-democrat.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tribune-democrat.com%2Flocal%2Flocal_story_053104525.html%3Fkeyword%3Dtopstory','reports')" target="_blank">reports that Cambria County Controller Ed Cernic Jr., who had been considering a run, is good to go, having announced his candidacy Monday morning.

With only a couple Republicans definitely running, the Democratic side of the ballot is shaping up to be to be a much more crowded affair—at least five Democrats have said they’re in the race.

UPDATE: In a statement Monday…