Posted on 02/11/2008 8:05:05 AM PST by Born Conservative
AFTER A CAREER as a newspaperman in a number of different states and cities I’ve become accustomed to readers’ telling me their town is different than others.
Keep that in mind as you edit our newspaper, they say, because “we really are different here.”
Most often than not they aren’t and neither is the town where they reside. Not different, that is.
But, there is nothing wrong with being parochial and proud of where a person lives. Feeling special and unique, even if it is just one person in a population of tens of thousands, carries its own sense of dignity. We all like to think we are “special.”
Beyond the veneer of pride, though, most of us and most of the places we live are strikingly similar. Common threads bind us.
And so, while, I usually nod in agreement to show I understand the need to be careful with a community’s newspaper, I also know the city is not much different than any other.
At least that is what I knew before I came to Wilkes-Barre over 30 years ago.
This is a different and special place.
One of the singularly differing aspects of life here is the passion for politics and political talk. Politics as both a spectator and participant sport are taken more seriously here and with more fervor than in other cities where I have lived.
This intense interest in politics is the reason 2008 is shaping up to be a banner year for us. Man, do we have fodder and grist for the mill -- to say nothing of surprises.
For instance, just when we were watching the presidential primary race for the Republicans fizzle in excitement when former Gov. Mitt Romney dropped out and John McCain high-stepped his way toward the end zone without being tackled, we had our sense of political intrigue piqued locally.
In comes Barletta Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta announced he is taking another shot at 24-year incumbent U. S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke. He will run for the second time against Kanjorski for the 11th District seat in Congress.
In 2002, Kanjorski defeated Barletta by 22,215 votes. The 11th Congressional District encompasses all or portions of Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne and Monroe counties.
The only county Barletta won in that race was Monroe, where he beat Kanjorski by 1,449 votes.
A lot has changed since then for Barletta. He has gained huge attention at home and around the country for his stance against illegal immigration. His name recognition has risen off the charts as has his popularity.
On Thursday, he announced his candidacy at home in Hazleton and that night appeared on the CNN “Lou Dobbs Show.”
One facet of this campaign will interest me the most. The question I have is whether Barletta’s fame and popularity nationally is matched locally. I watched in Texas when Gov. Ann Richards was viewed as a Democratic icon nationally while at home she was not viewed as favorably. That is how the unknown George W. Bush beat her in the governor’s race in Texas.
I am not saying Barletta is Ann Richards, but the question is worth asking.
The fight for this seat will be as fierce as the days 24 years ago when Kanjorski won for the first time. I was here for that race. It was a bell ringer, as were a couple that preceded it.
Back in the 1980s there was a line of candidates to follow the one-time wildly popular and theatrical personality of U.S. Rep. Dan Flood, who resigned after 31 years of service after violating campaign laws. He died in 1994 at the age of 90.
In a special election in 1980, he was replaced by Democrat Raphael J. Musto. Republican Jim Nelligan won the seat next, but he was defeated in 1982 by college professor Frank G. Harrison, a Democrat. In 1984, Kanjorski defeated Harrison. He’s been there ever since despite challenges in 1986 by Kingston’s Marc Holtzman, who was young but experienced in Washington and who raised lots of money. In 2002 Kanjorski was challenged by Barletta.
This has been a district that has produced hotly contested races. Since Kanjorski’s early campaigns his district was remapped to include Scranton, which has traditionally delivered huge Democratic votes.
In the 2002 race, for instance, Lackawanna County delivered Kanjorski 13,268 more votes than Barletta, over half of the margin of victory in the race.
Immigration, as an issue, may balance the inequities of redistricting.
So, if you like politics and brawling, this is the place to be this year. Wilkes-Barre and all of Northeastern Pennsylvania are different. We care about politics more than many other places.
There is a virtual political buffet in front of us as we listen to and take part in the campaigns for President of the United States, the 10th Congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep Chris Carney-D-Dimock Township, and now the 11th Congressional district race that will be contested.
The leading contenders on the Republican side competing to face Carney are two Back Mountain residents, Dan Meuser and Chris Hackett.
All of these races will create campaign sparks that will ignite the fire in our political bellies. It does not get any better than this. And this fire burns hotter than in other parts of the country.
It’s something special about us that should make us proud.
One of the singularly differing aspects of life here is the passion for politics and political talk. Politics as both a spectator and participant sport are taken more seriously here and with more fervor than in other cities where I have lived.
Kanjorski was one of the three congressmen to be singled out on the recent Fox expose’ about earmarks - he cyphoned earmarks to his own family. He was also the one caught on tape admitting that the dems lied in 2006 when they campaigned that they’d end the war and bring the troops home. He commented that none of the dems really believed that b ut “if it worked” so be it. I’d think he’d be fairly easy to beat given his “history”
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