State Senator backs Trivedi

State Senator Michael O’Pake (D-Berks) endorsed Manan Trivedi for Congress Tuesday, giving the 6th District hopeful another backer less than four months before primary day.

“Over the years I have gotten to know the people of this region and I understand their needs,” O’Pake, the chamber’s Minority Whip, said in a campaign statement. “So when I was deciding who I was going to support as my next congressman, it was important for that person to …

February 2, 2010 at 10:00 pm | Comments (4)

Waiting for Mary Beth Buchanan

By almost every account, pSo where is former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan?/p
pApparently, taking her time before getting into a 4th Congressional District race where she will immediately be the Republican front-runner to take on sophomore Democrat Jason Altmire. One party leader who spoke with her a few days ago said Buchanan will finally take the plunge within a couple weeks./p
p“Ms. Buchanan has given me a time frame of two weeks in which she will make her announcement,” Allegheny County GOP chairman Jim Roddey said. “She has been going around to all the Republican committees, making presentations about her campaign, but as far as I know she hasn’t been more specific about her announcement.”/p
pBut Buchanan is “definitely committed,” Roddey added./p
pCourting the media can apparently wait. About half-a-dozen e-mail messages have gone unanswered, a href="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_664411.html" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pittsburghlive.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pittsburghlive.com%2Fx%2Fpittsburghtrib%2Fnews%2Fpittsburgh%2Fs_664411.html','though+she+did+speak+to+The+Tribune-Review+once+last+week.')" target="_blank">though she did speak to The Tribune-Review once last week.

Edgeworth lawyer Keith Rothfus is already seeking the party’s nomination, but Roddey said he wouldn’t pose much of a challenge to the well-known Buchanan. Rothfus finished 2009 with about $37,000 on hand, including $25,000 he loaned the campaign, according to …

February 2, 2010 at 3:00 pm | Comments (2)

Less than $500 for Touey

State Representative Bryan Lentz (D-Delaware) finished 2009 with more than 140 times the campaign cash enjoyed by both of his primary opponents combined.

Newly-filed pa href="http://www.pa2010.com/2010/02/from-leaders-to-rank-and-file-dems-pitch-in-for-lentz/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2010%2F02%2Ffrom-leaders-to-rank-and-file-dems-pitch-in-for-lentz%2F','Lentz+had+about+%24460%2C000+on+hand')" target="_blank">Lentz had about $460,000 on hand. Democratic leaders already …

February 2, 2010 at 1:09 pm | Comments (17)

From the Blogs

Moving on

by Abe Amoros

Folks, it’s been a BLAST! I’ve certainly enjoyed contributing to pa2010.com, which has really come into its own as an authoritative source of news, information and incisive commentary. Now, it’s time to say “adios,” as I depart my position with the Democratic Party to become state legislative director for the Laborers’ International Union of North America.

I’d like to thank the readers, those who added their own thoughts into the mix and everyone else …

February 2, 2010 at 12:51 pm | Comments (5)

Another Dem chair backs Wagner

One quarter of the state’s 67 county Democratic leaders have now endorsed Auditor General Jack Wagner for governor.

The latest was Sullivan County party chair Germaine Donahue, whose support the campaign announced Tuesday. Seventeen county party leaders have backed Wagner, setting him up for a strong showing when Democratic State Committee members meet this weekend in Lancaster. While getting the two-thirds vote needed for a formal endorsement is difficult, Wagner could very well emerge as …

February 2, 2010 at 12:43 pm | Comments (13)

Burning Murtha in fundraising, and burning through cash (Updated)

Trying to unseat Pennsylvania’s most entrenched congressman, the King of Pork, is an effective rallying cry.

That’s the lesson taken from Republican Bill Russell’s recent fundraising haul. In his second bid against Congressman John Murtha (D-12), Russell has been raising money at a frenetic pace. He’s brought in about $2.8 million since losing to Murtha in 2008, more than three times the amount raised by the nearly 36-year incumbent, who pHolding onto that money, though, is a different story. Russell has sent almost every dollar back out the door, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on direct mail and voter outreach, a href="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00460048/447088/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://query.nictusa.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nictusa.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fdcdev%2Fforms%2FC00460048%2F447088%2F','according+to+campaign+finance+data')" target="_blank"according to campaign finance data/a. All signs point to a concerted effort to build a fundraising base that could eventually allow Russell to make money without spending so much of it—a tipping point he clearly has yet to reach. Despite his fundraising advantage, he finished the year with about $211,000 left in the bank—$177,00 less than Murtha had./p
pConsidering his skill as a fundraiser, observers could be excused for casting a skeptical eye at Murtha’s relatively small fourth-quarter haul. a href="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00019075/446927/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://query.nictusa.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nictusa.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fdcdev%2Fforms%2FC00019075%2F446927%2F','He+raised+less+than+%24100%2C000+in+the+last+three+months+of+2009')" target="_blank">He raised less than $100,000 …

February 2, 2010 at 12:15 pm | Comments (3)

Latest Dahlkemper opponent antes up $150K—before saying a word

Nothing says hello like a-hundred-fifty-grand.

An ophthalmologist from Erie is declaring his candidacy in the 3rd Congressional District Tuesday. But before even officially entering the race, Republican Tom Trevorrow has put some big money on the table. He quietly filed a statement of candidacy on Dec. 29, and on the last day of the year, he loaned his campaign a whopping $150,000, according to pThe serious down-payment indicates a serious GOP primary on the way, with Republicans feeling better about their prospects of unseating freshman Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper, who is seen as vulnerable because of her support for health care reform in a conservative district. Businessman a href="http://www.pa2010.com/2010/01/dahlkemper-challenger-loaned-campaign-150k/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2010%2F01%2Fdahlkemper-challenger-loaned-campaign-150k%2F','Paul+Huber+has+also+loaned+his+campaign+%24150%2C000')" target="_blank"Paul Huber has also loaned his campaign $150,000/a. And car dealer Mike Kelly a href="http://www.pa2010.com/2010/01/butler-businessman-wants-to-challenge-dahlkemper/" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.pa2010.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pa2010.com%2F2010%2F01%2Fbutler-businessman-wants-to-challenge-dahlkemper%2F','recently+entered+the+race')" target="_blank">recently entered the race with a campaign team of seasoned party …

February 2, 2010 at 9:00 am | Comments (1)

Videos from the gubernatorial debate

In the excitement of debates and forums, we forgot to post videos from pWe got a handful of clips. Embedded above is a brief video of Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel discussing his position on abortion rights. More clips can be found on the a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/pa2010Video" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.youtube.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2Fpa2010Video','pa2010.com+YouTube+Channel')" target="_blank"empa2010.com/em YouTube Channel/a./p
pa href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OeGhTnjjGk" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.youtube.com']);return TrackClick("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D_OeGhTnjjGk','Click+here+to+see+Allegheny+County+Executive+Dan+Onorato+discuss+manufacturing+and+industrial+revitalization.')" target="_blank">Click here to see Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato discuss manufacturing and industrial revitalization.…

February 2, 2010 at 8:30 am | Comments (0)

Report: Specter refunds total $850K

The final refund tally is in.

Since defecting to the Democrats, Senator Arlen Specter has returned about $850,000-worth of campaign contributions to disaffected donors, The New York Times …

February 2, 2010 at 8:00 am | Comments (10)

As expected Onorato & Corbett have big money leads

There were no real surprises as the first nuggets of state campaign finance data began to trickle out Monday.

In the race for governor, Democrat Dan Onorato and Republican Tom Corbett have no rivals in fundraising. Corbett, the Republican front-runner, raked in about $4.2 million in 2009, compared to $3.6 million collected by Onorato. But thanks in part to leftover funds from his 2007 county executive race, Onorato still finished the year with about $6.5 …

February 1, 2010 at 11:56 pm | Comments (3)