AFL-CIO backs Pike, others in contested House primaries

The statewide AFL-CIO has made its picks for Congress.

The umbrella labor organization endorsed five candidates in Democratic primaries when its Executive Council met Tuesday. Perhaps most notable was the AFL-CIO’s backing for 6th District hopeful Doug Pike, who is locked in the party’s most competitive House nominating contest against Manan Trivedi. Pike already enjoyed deeper labor support than Trivedi, and despite Trivedi’s recent surge of local party support, the AFL-CIO endorsement effectively puts the …

March 30, 2010 at 2:07 pm | Comments (3)

LEFTOVERS: Corbett campaign chimes in, endorsements for Specter, Onorato & Trivedi

Attorney General Tom Corbett’s gubernatorial campaign is clearly sensitive to—and mindful of—charges that the Republican front-runner is using his office for political gain. There was no campaign statement trumpeting the conviction of former state Representative Mike Veon, Corbett’s first big win in the long-running Bonusgate investigation. And in the first couple days after Corbett said he’d join other state attorneys general in suing to block health care reform legislation, his campaign was similarly silent.

But …

March 25, 2010 at 9:23 pm | Comments (4)

Pike says no thanks to J Street endorsement (Updated)

There’s been plenty of (online) ink spilled over endorsements that Democrat Doug Pike has lost in recent months. But there’s one endorsement that the 6th District candidate was happy to give up of his own volition: that of J Street, the left-leaning Israel policy group.

Pike recently asked J Street to remove his name from its list of endorsed candidates, and said he’d return the approximately $6,000 raised through its political action committee. The move …

March 25, 2010 at 1:32 pm | Comments (10)

Pike and Trivedi talk health care, Afghanistan, job creation

KUTZTOWN—With their contentious nominating contest seeming to tighten two months before primary day, Democrats Doug Pike and Manan Trivedi shared a stage Monday night for their third debate in just over a month.

Their debate, an affable affair at Kutztown University here, touched on everything from the health care legislation on the verge of becoming law and policies for job creation, to the war in Afghanistan and trade policies with China. With not much of …

March 22, 2010 at 11:51 pm | Comments (17)

LEFTOVERS: Endorsements for Onorato, Wagner, Trivedi & Bucchianeri

A truckload of endorsements dropped for Democrats toward the end of this week. We also made …

March 21, 2010 at 12:30 pm | Comments (1)

Another Dem goes neutral in the 6th District

State Representative Josh Shapiro (D-Montgomery) has decided to pull his endorsement of congressional hopeful Doug Pike, making him one of the most high-profile Democrats to change his mind in the contentious 6th District primary between Pike and Manan Trivedi.

Shapiro, a three-term state lawmaker with a big profile in the region, confirmed to pa2010.com that he asked the Pike campaign to remove his name from the endorsement list on its Web site, which it did recently—and quietly. Like others who have either gone neutral or switched to Trivedi’s camp altogether, Shapiro cited the fact that Pike was the only candidate in the race at the time of the endorsement.

March 17, 2010 at 9:00 am | Comments (15)

SEIU backs Pike in 6th District

Democratic congressional hopeful Doug Pike got one of his biggest labor endorsements of the campaign Monday, when the Pennsylvania chapter of the powerful Service Employees International Union backed him in the 6th District.

Even as primary opponent Manan Trivedi has taken a big lead over Pike when it comes to party support, Pike still has the backing of far more labor unions. The SEIU endorsement marked 18 unions who have endorsed Pike or given him …

March 15, 2010 at 12:05 pm | Comments (7)

LEFTOVERS: ‘Fumocrats’ for Meehan, Payton backs Onorato, Pike still wants a pledge

A few things slipped by us toward the end of the week.

Apparently former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan is getting some help from friends and allies of the man he helped put in prison, the convicted Vince Fumo. The Philadelphia Daily News …

March 14, 2010 at 2:35 pm | Comments (3)

A big win for Trivedi in MontCo

PLYMOUTH MEETING—Congressional hopeful Manan Trivedi won the endorsement of Montgomery County Democrats Thursday night, capping a furious run in which Trivedi has gone from relatively late entrant into the race to the favorite of the party’s rank-and-file throughout the 6th District.

Trivedi, a Reading physician and Iraq War veteran, overwhelmingly beat out former Inquirer editorial writer Doug Pike for the endorsement, winning 77 votes to Pike’s 28. It was an even larger margin of victory …

March 12, 2010 at 5:09 am | Comments (49)

LEFTOVERS: SpecterPride, Kanjorski’s stimulus job, electricians for Pike

Reporters on the ground from Plymouth Meeting to Latrobe, and we still managed to miss plenty on Thursday.

Senator Arlen Specter will be formally rolling out his committee of major supporters within the LGBT community on Friday, in what his campaign is calling SpecterPride. The 68-member group includes Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News. “No other elected official in all of Pennsylvania has such a long record of accomplishments on LGBT issues …

March 12, 2010 at 1:32 am | Comments (2)