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Here's a very good article breaking down the PA governor's race. I think Fisher has a real shot to make this competitive.

Rendell must win Allegheny, Washington and Beaver counties in the west, tie or lose narrowly in Centre and Clearfield counties, get above the 40 percent mark in the "Western L" and bring in about 70 percent of the vote in the Philadelphia region.

Given the fact that voter turnout in Phila will be about 107% for Fast Eddie, he's looking like a shoe in. For Fischer to win, he'll need to:

1.) Portray Ed Rendell as a corrupt, big-city, back-room, sleazy politician. Not too hard, as it's the truth. If Ed Rendell can be linked very closely with the fiscal black hole that is Philadelphia, the rest of the state will line up behind Fischer.

2.) Play up Eddie's tax-and-spend philosophy and his claims that he will spend the PA rainy day fund.

3.) Play up Eddie's virulently unconstitutional anti-gun positions in central and western PA.

4.) For heaven's sake, have election monitors in every single precinct in Philadelphia. Otherwise, you can kiss the governor's mansion goodbye. Ed Rendell is not above cheating to win. Not by a long shot.

I pray that Ed Rendell is defeated. He would be an absolute disaster as governor of Pennsylvania.

Yeah, some folks have already written this race off because of Rendell's early lead in the polls. I personally think it's going to be competitive, giving a slight edge to Rendell. I'm glad to hear that the money issue is basically a wash, as opposed to favoring Rendell.

BTW, my highly scientific yard sign survey from two weeks ago showed Fisher leading Rendell 100%-0% (5% confidence, 95% margin of error).

Will Schweiker make some appearances for Fisher? He has a world of good will from the miner's rescue that would be a big help to the republican.

The left-wing, liberal Philadelphia dailies portray Rendell as a successful mayor. However, they never mention that Philadelphia has lost almost 150,000 people since 1990—more than any other city.

While downtown is thriving, the rest of the city remains a crime- and highly taxed municipality of failing schools and continued middle-class flight. It is still in the throes of economic decline. Black and white middle-class families with children continue to spill out out of the city, always giving the same reasons: schools, crime, and taxes.

The city doesn't attract the kinds of start-up businesses flourishing elsewhere. In 1997, Philadelphia had one new business started for every 275 residents, compared with one in 97 in San Francisco and one in 66 in Houston. Meanwhile, the surrounding counties experienced such a boom that a city resident is now more likely to commute to the suburbs than a suburbanite is likely to commute into the city. Though why city residents would want to stay remains a puzzle: a family of four paid 15 percent more in local tax than it would in high-tax New York or Chicago, and twice what it would pay in L.A.

Fisher has a lot of ammunition but he has to start shooting. His main attacks should focus on failing schools, Rendell's fanatical pro-abortion stance, he opposition to the Second Amendment and the fact that his sexual escapades, while not up there with our former National Role Model are worth a mention. Fisher can win, but he has to start campaigning.

We can help by urging all our conservative friends to talk up the election and be sure to vote.

No mention of the recent endorsement of Rendell by Republican State Tresurer Barbara Hafer. This is kind of inside baseball stuff in PA politics, but Hafer thinks she's been repeatedly snubbed by the old boy network in the state Republican party (in 1990 against Casey, and again this year in the primary). Now, this is her revenge. Bad news for Fisher. Hafer can sway some votes in the western part of the state, and that's where Fisher has to clean up.

IMHO, Fisher is toast.

I think Fisher has a real shot to make this competitive

Hope springs eternal, but I doubt it. It is that Philly suburbs thing, plus the desire for a party switch after a long run of GOP governors. Plus Rendell is very impressive on TV.