Jim Matthews is the chairman of the Montgomery County Commission (Montco is the Democrat-trending county just north of Philly), and the brother of Hardball host Chris Matthews. While those aren't exactly calling cards for conservatives, Lynn Swann appears to be comfortable enough with Matthews as to endorse him in the Lieutenant Governor primary. Here is some information on Matthews, : http://www.montcogop.org/gopteam_matthews.htm
A ticket with Lynn Swann (who is extremely popular in the Pittsburgh area since his Steelers' days and might be able to cut into Democrat margins among black voters) for Governor and a popular Philly subarbanite like Matthews for Lt. Gov. would give us our best chance possible to defeat Gov. Ed Rendell next November. Rendell's game plan is to win big in the Philly suburbs and tread water in the rest of the state, and if a Swann-Matthews ticket can get over 45% in the suburban Philly counties of Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware and Chester, they will defeat Rendell (President Bush got 46.22% in the Philly suburbs in 2004 on his way to 48.42% statewide, but Swann will outperform Bush in Western PA and possibly in black parts of Philly).
In a match-up between Rendell and Swann, Rendell would receive 45 percent of the vote, Swann 41 percent, with 14 percent undecided, according to the poll. In a Rendell-Scranton race, Rendell again would get 45 percent of the vote while Scranton would get 42 percent with 13 percent undecided, poll results show.
It's amazaing that the reporter had the cheek to actually write that first paragraph and then follow it with teh actual poll numbers that make him a liar. 45% vs 41 or 42% is hardly 'handily' defeating anyone!The MOE in this poll was +/-3% and was skewed slightly to the democrats. Anytime a sitting Governor polls only better than 1 point of the MOE against a 'possible' candidate I'd put my money on the challenger.