Ya. What a stupid idea. Only professional politicians need apply. < / sarcasm >
Posted on 02/02/2006 12:20:28 PM PST by presidio9
Former Pittsburgh Steelers star Lynn Swann appears to have locked up enough support to win the Republican Party nomination for Pennsylvania governor. In the last regional GOP meeting before state Republicans meet to endorse a candidate, the NFL Hall of Famer on Tuesday picked up 33 unofficial commitments from party representatives. If they all follow through, he will have just over the 180 votes needed to win the party's official endorsement on Feb. 11. Swann, 53, is seeking to become Pennsylvania's first black governor. Though he has revealed little about his political philosophy, he has said the Democratic Party has "taken the African-American vote for granted." Supporters say his high profile and charisma make him the best candidate to take on Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, who is expected to seek a second term. Swann's leading opponent for the GOP nomination, former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton, 58, has sharply criticized Swann's qualifications and promised to stay in the race through the May 16 primary with or without the party's backing. Scranton's deputy campaign manager, Mike DeVanney, sought to downplay the significance of the straw voting Tuesday. "This was a divided caucus. There's not clear support for Lynn Swann's candidacy," he said. Swann was a wide receiver for the Steelers from 1974-83 and led his team to four Super Bowl victories. After retiring from football, he worked as a commentator
Two words: Jesse Ventura.
That said, I agree with you on the no-experience thing, and have said that many times about Swann on this forum, in different threads.
THAT said...I think he will come very close, and might even win.
Ronald Reagan held no elective office before being Gov. of the nation's largest state.
I remember a guy back in the 60's with no experience in government and who had, according to the "pundits" no chance to win. He not only won but became president in 1980. Also, how much governing experience did George W.have before he became governor in Texas? Experience is overrated. What you need is the ability to surround yourself with good people and delegate. Rendell had alot of experience but, in my opinion, he's been a disaster. I don't know if Swann can win or not but he's sure going to get my vote in November.
Hillary! became a Senator of a state she didn't even live in.
Ronald Reagan was president of the SAG (currently renamed as F.A.G) before holding PUBLIC elective office. That means something in California.
http://www.strategicvision.biz/political/pa_poll_012506.htm
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/State%20Polls/January%202006/Pennsylvania%20Governor%20January%2015.htm
So far, after a year and a half, Swann has run exactly no campaign. There is no evidence that I've seen that Swann will significantly cut into Rendell's majority in Philadelphia which is what carried him (and John Kerry in 2004), which is supposedly what has the Republican leadership salivating. I understand that after Mike Fisher, running a corpse would look like an improvement, but let's try to be at least a little realistic. Additionally, even in the unlikely event that his candidacy would increase black turnout, that would translate into a big negative for Santorum. Given the choice between losing the Senate seat and Rendell keeping the Governorship, I'll take the latter choice.
The one thing that could catapult either Swann or Scranton (and Santorum as well, even though it is a statewide issue and not federal), in my opinion, would be for them to endorse and actively campaign on the proposals of the Commonwealth Caucus in the Republican party. For those unfamiliar with this, it would entail the complete elimination of both personal and business property taxes (imagine the effect the latter could have to regions like Scranton/Reading/Pittsburg that have been hit by the collapse of steel and manufacturing in the state), reduction of the sales tax to 5% (6% in Philly and Pittsburg because of the stadiums), elimination of any portion of wage tax that is designated for school funding. The tradeoff is that the sales tax would include services as well as goods, instead of just goods. All school funding in the state would come from the sales tax.
Ya. What a stupid idea. Only professional politicians need apply. < / sarcasm >
Again, if you have any actual evidence other than wishful thinking for this position, I'd be delighted to read it.
They are thinking he's got name recognition, money to finance his race, ability to retain traditional Rep voters, and possibility to take the usual Dem voters in unions/minority demos.
In otherwords, they are thinking he's got the skills and assets to win this race, and they are correct. Ask the current Governor of penn if he agrees with your statements about Swann's chances. he's so scared he announced support for Alito!
The problem is the dead don't get consulted by pollsters, and they count the choices of the living only once. Unfortunately neither of those restrictions apply to the statewide vote. Philadelphia will generate as many votes as necessary to secure Rendell's re-election. Polls will have to run at least 55-45 for Swann for him to have a realistic shot at winning the election. I wish him well.
"Given the choice between losing the Senate seat and Rendell keeping the Governorship, I'll take the latter choice."
i totally disagree. id much rather have a republican such as swann as governor and lose santorum in the senate. a governor has much more power directly over pennsylvanians than a u.s. senator being 1 out of 100.
Ronald Reagan had also been a very visible voice in the conservative movement for years before he ran. He spoke about issues and proposed actual solutions. I haven'ts seen anything to indicate where Swann actually stands on the vast majority of the issues. His website is minimally informative and seems to be more on the level of someone running for Class President than Governor. I have no affection for Governor Rendell (and have often expressed this to his face) but he'll eat Swann for lunch.
We'll have some good DUmmie FUnnies if that happens! They'll go apesh*t.
Tell that to me when the next SCOTUS nominee comes up. As long as the Pa. House and Senate remain in Republican hands (by no means a certainty since the whole pay raise debacle), Rendell can be kept in check, as he has during the first term.
Yup...he's looking good. The Akron Beacon Journal even had an anti-Petro, pro-Blackwell article. Look here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1570332/posts
I grew up in PA and we have a saying there that everything between Philly & Pittsburg is like Albama, I doubt a black man stands a chance of getting elected there. None of the white Republicans I know will vote for a black man, a factor no one is considering.
you could say the same about the senate. as long as there is majority, there is nothing to worry about. the ways things are looking now, it would take a near miracle for the dems to retake the senate in '06. it will be tough for the dems to retake the pa legistature but i think the chances of that happening are much better than the dems taking the U.S. senate. the pay raise debacle is gonna haunt them.
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