Democrats try to unite for fall gubernatorial campaign
HARRISBURG – Now that the in-fighting is over, Democrats are trying to unite for the gubernatorial election in November. If history is any indication, it won’t be easy.
House Democratic Leader H. William DeWeese of Waynesburg sent a letter to Democratic state lawmakers this week, urging them to get behind Ed Rendell. The extent to which this is accomplished could determine who is elected governor.
Most of the party’s legislators had supported Rendell’s opponent, Bob Casey Jr., in the primary. It was a vicious, bitter and hard-fought race. Some Democrats made Rendell out to be a dishonest politician who couldn’t be trusted.
In the end, Rendell prevailed by a 56-44 percent vote margin. The former Philadelphia mayor faces Republican Mike Fisher, the state attorney general, in November’s election.
For some staunch Casey backers, switching allegiance to Rendell might seem as appealing as supporting a Republican. Some of Rendell’s views on major issues sharply conflict with Casey’s views. Unlike Casey, Rendell supports abortion rights and gun control.
“The real challenge is finding a way to bring the disparate wings of the party together,” said Mike Young, a former Penn State University professor who is a Harrisburg-based political consultant. “There’s a conservative wing of the party headed by Casey and the other wing has liberals or moderates, and they see the world differently. Whether they are successful at coming or not together is going to have a large influence on who the next governor is.”
Rendell plans to emphasize his views on education, health care and the economy to win over skeptical Casey backers, his spokesman Dan Fee said.
“Those are the things that make us Democrats,” Fee said. “Those are the things that bind us together, and those are the issues we’re going to run on this fall.”
In contrast to Democrats, Republicans have been a paragon of unity. Despite the fact that the state has more registered Democratic than Republican voters, the GOP controls virtually every major office and branch of state government.
“Republicans get together and agree on a candidate,” Young said. “They avoid primaries and all of the costs associated with them.”
The GOP hasn’t had a contested primary for a major seat since 1980, when Arlen Specter ran against Bud Haabestad for U.S. senator, Young said.
Primary races often have been the downfall of the Democrats, dividing the party and costing it millions of dollars that could have been spent campaigning against the GOP’s candidate. Democratic candidates emerge so battered from their primary contests that they face an uphill battle in winning the general election.
But political analysts believe Democrats can heal their wounds, reconcile their differences and unite this time.
“I think they have an incentive and it can be summed up in a single word: winning,” Young said. “The party has been hurt by disunity in the past and there’s hardly a Democrat that deep down doesn’t realize that’s a large reason they’re out of power.”
Political science professor G. Terry Madonna agrees.
“Democratic lawmakers have been put to pasture since 1995 and literally have played no role in the budget and legislative process as a Republican governor and Republican Legislatures have pretty much dominated all political decisions since 1995,” said Madonna, who directs the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Millersville University. “So, Democrats, particularly the legislative contingent, will have little trouble rallying around Rendell.”