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Former Knox aide starting up Hafer’s campaign; Trippi doing media
As she gears up for a run to succeed the late Congressman John Murtha (D-12), Barbara Hafer is leaning on someone she describes as an old friend to get her campaign up and running: Philadelphia-based political operative Josh Morrow.
Morrow, who most recently managed Democrat Tom Knox’s gubernatorial campaign, is serving as a sort-of acting campaign manager while Hafer builds a more permanent staff. She has also retained prominent Democratic strategist Joe Trippi to handle the campaign’s advertising buys. Dave Mellet, a communications consultant who’s worked for The Strategy Group, is handling the campaign’s press. About 10 volunteers are on board.
In an interview with pa2010.com on Tuesday, Hafer emphasized that titles and roles within the campaign are still fluid ahead of this weekend’s meeting of local Democratic insiders, when party hands will recommend a special-election candidate to the state party’s executive committee, which has the final say. She’ll do a formal announcement of her campaign staff later.
“We’ve all been doing a lot of things until Saturday,” she said. “We’re just getting up and running.”
Hafer, a former state treasurer and auditor general, faces her stiffest competition from former Murtha aide Mark Critz, who has lined up support from several of the late congressman’s staunchest supporters. With a primary contest set to go off on the same day of the special election to finish out Murtha’s term, Hafer has said she’s staying in the primary regardless of whether she’s chosen as the special election candidate. She declined Tuesday to speculate how Saturday’s meeting would turn out.
“I don’t have a count yet,” she said. “We’re making the calls, making our case, and I think we’ll be competitive. But we don’t even know who’s going to be voting yet.”
March 2, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Tags: Barbara Hafer, John Murtha, Josh Morrow, Mark Critz, PA-12
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Philly Guy
Mar 2nd, 2010
Good luck with Josh Morrow. He is a campaign loser and doesn’t know anything about winning.
term limit
Mar 2nd, 2010
Like most Philly Guys-this one knows nothing. Morrow has been a winner everywhere he goes. Just was unlucky with that stiff Knox. There is no one better in the game than Morrow. Hafer is lucky to have him at the helm. I also hear Morrow is helping out Sen. Tony Williams in his campaign.
Anonymous
Mar 2nd, 2010
In a run-off between Critz and Hafer, I choose Hafer every time. Hafer has proven repeatedly (Auditor General & Treasurer) that she is in touch with the people of Pennsylvania, Critz has not. Critz has never been elected to any office seems to be running on the name of Murtha and Murtha alone. Reminds me a bit of the movie “a distinguished gentleman” where Critz plays the part of Eddie Murphy. Hafer has a record the voters can look to, Critz does not. Hafer has won an election before, Critz has not. The Democratic Party needs to put up candidate who has been tested by the public before, Hafer has, Critz has not. To me, this is an easy decision, Hafer YES, Critz NO.
Karl Jacobson
Mar 2nd, 2010
Josh Morrow is a consumate professional and Hafer is fortunate to have Josh on board, even if it is for now.
Reality
Mar 2nd, 2010
Oh come on term limit! Josh Morrow has lost every campaign he’s been part of — where has he won as a manager?. Knox for Mayor. Loss. Dougherty for Senate. Loss. McCaffery for DA. Loss. Each one, he’s had the best funded candidate and lost. And in each one, there have been serious ethical questions about how the campaign was run.
STEELBLITZ1
Mar 2nd, 2010
Wow this is some serious campaign brass.
Philly Guy
Mar 2nd, 2010
Brass plated plastic you mean?
IntelligentVoter
Mar 2nd, 2010
Oh, Come on guys, cut Morrow a break. Clearly those who say what they say appear to have little experience in running campaigns.
The reality is that oftentimes you are only as fast as the horse you ride. You’d have a better argument if you picked on Josh for picking lousy horses. Just remember, many people said that Jim Carville was a looser until he picked a winning horse. Then suddenly he became a genius.
How about all of the campaign people who know nothing about anything but who are lucky enough to jump on a winning horse (espcially the first time around) but somehow deceive themselves into thinking that they are actually any good at running campaigns. LOL
WESTPADEM6
Mar 3rd, 2010
Joe Trippi…. plastic??? Are you serious?