LEFTOVERS: New ads from Corbett, Kennedy, Kelly & Bucchianeri

So many ads, so few days left before the May 18 primary.

One of the new spots came from Republican gubernatorial front-runner Tom Corbett. It’s a softer look at the state attorney general, in which he chats with folks at a barbershop. “In my very first week as governor,” Corbett says in the ad, “I’m going to send a reform plan to Harrisburg legislators, and believe me, some of them aren’t going to like it.”…

May 12, 2010 at 11:28 pm | Comments (0)

In 12th District, underdog Dem takes a shoe-leather approach

JOHNSTOWN—It’s a sunny Wednesday afternoon, and Ryan Bucchianeri is doing what he always does these days: going door-to-door, trying to convince voters in the 12th District to elect a 35-year-old, boyish-looking candidate they’ve never heard of to Congress.

Bucchianeri has been doing this months, and he’s still full of energy. He’s crisscrossed the far-flung gerrymandered district, putting an estimated 2,000 miles on his car.

“I’m doing it all in a 20-year-old Buick,” he says.

By…

May 6, 2010 at 2:25 pm | Comments (1)

LEFTOVERS: Holden for Wagner, a Philly pol for Onorato, Post-Gazette for Bucchianeri

The endorsement train just keeps on rolling.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jack Wagner, seemed to get the most high-profile endorsement of the day Tuesday, when Congressman Tim Holden (D-17) threw his support behind the Auditor General. “We share many of the same values and ideas for moving Pennsylvania forward,” Holden said in a statement. “Jack has the right plan for job creation and economic development at a time when Pennsylvanians are facing fiscal challenges. He is…

May 4, 2010 at 4:14 pm | Comments (3)

Five candidates, two elections, one forum

WESTMONT—Three Democrats and two Republicans competing for the chance to succeed the late John Murtha shared a stage Wednesday evening, during a lightning-round style forum that divided the candidates along predictable ideological lines but also briefly prefaced the bitter debate to come between Republican Tim Burns and Democrat Mark Critz.

The forum, held in a high school auditorium in this borough on the outskirts of Johnstown, featured not only Burns and Critz—the two candidates set…

April 28, 2010 at 9:21 pm | Comments (5)

Bucchianeri hits Critz for health care opposition

Democrat Mark Critz has been quickly distancing himself from his party’s health care overhaul as he seeks to succeed John Murtha in the 12th Congressional District. And Ryan Bucchianeri, the underdog candidate in the primary against him, is taking the opportunity to draw a clear contrast.

After Critz’s campaign began airing

April 21, 2010 at 4:42 pm | Comments (10)

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)

Cernic drops out of Dem primary in the 12th

Cambria County Controller Ed Cernic Jr. has decided not to run in the Democratic primary to succeed John Murtha in the 12th Congressional District. His withdrawal from the race leaves Navy veteran Ryan Bucchianeri and attorney Ron Mackell Jr. as the only Democrats still running against former Murtha aide Mark Critz, the party’s nominee for a special election to finish out Murtha’s term and the overwhelming favorite to win the primary being held the same…

March 21, 2010 at 12:15 pm | Comments (2)

LEFTOVERS: A clean campaign call from Pike, Specter’s new book, petition updates

Doug Pike tried for something of ceasefire Monday—and his primary opponent’s response basically amounted to, “we’ll get back to ya, but probably not.”

Pike, one of two Democrats seeking the party’s nod in the 6th Congressional District, cited a report from our buddies at PoliticsPA that noted the contest between him and Manan Trivedi could become one of the “nastiest” primaries of the year (we agree, by the way).

“That would be a real disservice…

March 8, 2010 at 11:30 pm | Comments (6)

Local Dems back Critz for 12th District special

DELMONT—Longtime congressional staffer Mark Critz won the support of local Democratic Party insiders in the 12th Congressional District Saturday, officially becoming their preferred candidate for a special election before the state party’s executive committee makes a final nomination.

Critz, who was district director for the late Congressman John Murtha, won 55 percent of the votes cast by delegates at a morning meeting here—a significant show of support but not the overwhelming win that some had…

March 6, 2010 at 2:30 pm | Comments (12)

The cheerful underdog in PA-12

DELMONT—Ryan Bucchianeri has little campaign cash, not much party support, and, it would seem, almost no chance of winning the Democratic primary to succeed the late John Murtha in the 12th Congressional District.

But he sure it taking this political uphill climb with a smile. He never goes negative, and he happily represents a more liberal spot on the spectrum in a part of the state where Democrats more often tack to the center. After…

March 6, 2010 at 1:14 pm | Comments (3)