More to campaign than ads
When Bob Casey visited with the Herald-Standard editorial board he had already lost the early lead he had in the polls for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Many attributed this to the negative campaign that he ran. Instead of telling voters about himself, Casey took potshots at Ed Rendell. We asked Casey if he regretted the style and tone of his campaign. Not at all, he said, convinced that he had done a good job in selling his platform and bringing the issues to Pennsylvanians. If he was talking about voters who educated themselves through research, then he had a point. But that’s not the average voter. Unfortunately the typical voter forms opinions on candidates through 30-second television spots and little else. In dissecting the stomping that Rendell delivered to Casey, political commentators point to the fact that voters were turned off from negative campaigning. They had enough and revolted.
That possibly could be so. (Rendell and Republican nominee Mike Fisher reportedly have pledged to refrain from negative campaigning for the general election.)
But what really cost Casey the nomination was a heavy turnout of voters in southeastern Pennsylvania. Outside of Centre County (which conceivably was a draw as Rendell won by a mere 400 votes) Casey carried the rest of the state. His lead was wiped out by the Philly voting block. Of the 10 counties there, nine erased the edge and one, Philadelphia, gave Rendell the large margin of victory to claim the race. There are reports that Republicans, without a contested ballot, switched parties in order to vote for Rendell. What won’t be known until November is whether their loyalty will return to the party and Fisher or stick with the hometown candidate.
The general election will be a battle of the east and west as Fisher is from Allegheny County.
Voters who want more than a regional battle and sound bites and who have access to the Internet might want to bookmark the site Issuespa.net. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Economy League, it contains a nonpartisan approach to posting information on the candidates and leaves it up to the viewer to weigh the contents.