PA GOV RACE BOMBSHELL!!!!!!!!! Hafer crossing party lines to back Rendell for governor

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Tuesday, September 03, 2002 2:14 PM | James O'Toole, Post-Gazette Politics Editor

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Hafer crossing party lines to back Rendell for governor

Tuesday, September 03, 2002

By James O'Toole, Post-Gazette Politics Editor

State Treasurer Barbara Hafer, a Republican, will cross party lines to endorse Democrat Ed Rendell in his race for governor against GOP Attorney General Mike Fisher.

The surprise development will be showcased in Fisher's political back yard in a press conference tomorrow morning on the steps of the City-County Building in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Hafer and Rendell will then set out on a cross-state tour with stops in Harrisburg and Philadelphia later in the day. Hafer is to continue to campaign actively for Rendell.

One group that will be a particular target for Hafer would be Republicans who, like the treasurer, favor abortion rights. Hafer, a former Allegheny County commissioner, will also be a wedge to pry voters from Fisher in his geographic base. Before being elected attorney general, Fisher represented a state senate district based in the county's South Hills.

Neither campaign had any immediate comment on the decision by Hafer, who, until early this year, had been a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. In the face of widespread support for Fisher among the state GOP establishment, she withdrew her candidacy, allowing Fisher to win the nomination unopposed.

---

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

[uncbob]

After 8 years under wonderful Eddy the Philly schools are a complete disaster and the state is trying to intervene .

If Fisher doesn't pound him over this especially in the Delaware Valley he is completely incompetent

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Just got email from Fisher camp:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 3, 2002
CONTACT: Kent Gates
717-234-7564

FISHER/EARLL NOT SURPRISED AT HAFER'S ANNOUNCEMENT

HARRISBURG - State Treasurer Barbara Hafer is set to endorse Ed Rendell
tomorrow, September 4, 2000, at a series of events in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg
and Philadelphia. Mike Fisher has the following reaction to the news:

"I am not surprised that Barbara Hafer will endorse Ed Rendell tomorrow. She
is making public what she has been doing for the past three months,
supporting Ed Rendell. Tomorrow's announcement is irrelevant to our equation
to victory," said Mike Fisher.

Barbara Hafer has supported other Democrats in the past - most notably Marty
Weinberg in the 1999 Philadelphia Mayor's race - so tomorrow's news should
not come as a surprise to anyone who follows state politics. Despite these
incidents, Republicans have supported Barbara Hafer - most notably in her
close 2000 re-election for Treasurer.

"In January of this year, Mike Fisher asked Jane Earll to run with him for
Lt. Governor because Jane represents the future of not just women in the
Republican Party, but women in politics and government. Tomorrow, Ed Rendell
will surround himself with the political women of the past, Catherine Baker
Knoll and Barbara Hafer. This stands in stark contrast with Mike Fisher who
is running with Jane Earll," said Fisher Campaign Manager Kent Gates.

"In 2000, Barbara Hafer questioned Catherine Baker Knoll's tenure as
Treasurer. Now Barbara Hafer stands with Catherine Baker Knoll to help her
become Lt. Governor. The questions for Treasurer Hafer are: Did the Knoll
scandal go away? What changed from 2000?" questioned Gates.

- 30 -


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[stevio]

What really gets me is that he didn't have to fight an expensive primary, what's he doing with all that freakin' money?!?! And stop sounding like demoncrat lite! Arg!!!

[uncbob]

The suburban RINO's are Philly Transplants and aka Soccer Moms

Exactly
They flee the city and then vote for the democrats that ruined the cities
American voters by and large are boobs and vote out of habit

[Theodore R.]

And if it wasn't for Milwaukee, WI would have gone for Bush, and if it wasn't for Detroit, MI would have gone for Bush and if it wasn't for Portland, OR would have gone for Bush. But I guess even without Baltimore, Gore would have swept MD.

[Mo1]

After 8 years under wonderful Eddy the Philly schools are a complete disaster and the state is trying to intervene .

Trying to ??

They did .. They took over the school system because it sucked so bad ..

[GraniteStateConservative]

I don't think you should throw in the towel. I said that Fisher isn't surging. He needs to surge to make up for his poll deficit. Is Fisher surging?

[GraniteStateConservative]

I'm a majority of one, Coop!

[Mo1]

And if it wasn't for Milwaukee, WI would have gone for Bush, and if it wasn't for Detroit, MI would have gone for Bush and if it wasn't for Portland, OR would have gone for Bush.

And do you know what these all have in common

Big Cities .. Union Towns

[dyed_in_the_wool]

The suburban RINO's (where, admittedly I am from) are the reason that Clinton and Gore won the state in the 92, 96 and 00 elections.

Wrong about '00. It was the dead people in Philadelphia. How else can you explain 100% voter turnout when the rest of the country only had around 40%? The numbers were blazingly out of whack. Of course, the Inquirer and Daily News wouldn't dare question all of those Union Dead who came back to vote one more time.

[Theodore R.]

Many "pro-life Christians" do not understand politics. They vote Democrat because they think the Democrats will deliver free health care for their old aunts and uncles and "better schools" for their little kids. Some think the Democrats are for the "common man," like Jesus and Andrew Jackson! Many also have a kindly view toward "government," which they see as their "friend." Didn't Jesus say to "render unto Caesar," they will ask?

[Mo1]

They flee the city and then vote for the democrats that ruined the cities American voters by and large are boobs and vote out of habit

And WHY did we flee the city

1) Taxes were to high

2) The school System stinks

3) The crime rate surge

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Now this race becomes lib v. conservative. Up till now it has not been that and the Fisher folks did not take off the gloves. THE GLOVES COME OFF NOW BABY.

Pretty soon every person in the state will know:

Rendell wants gay mariages, tax-payer funded abortions and to take your guns.

Fisher's campaign has been "above" that. Guess what - it's time.

[Coop]

Is Fisher surging?

I think that's between Mr. & Mrs. Fisher. Shame on you!

[OldFriend]

This news has been out there for at least a month. Wonder why it got so much publicity now?

The other question is why in the world would the State of Pennsylvania want the man who ran Philadelphia into the sewer for their Governor.

[pankot]

It's a hard question you propose, but methinks you've nailed it.

[GraniteStateConservative]

That's what the kids these days are calling it?

[Mo1]

Rendell wants gay mariages, tax-payer funded abortions and to take your guns

I just saw an ad of Rendell's stating the FIRST thing on the FIRST day if he is elected will be to Lower Proerty Taxes

[GraniteStateConservative]

Hope springs eternal! Brother, I hope you're right!

[pittsburgh gop guy]

The following is by a decent guy - though a Dem. And if he is saying it ain/t over - the Dems know it ain't over.

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2002/09/02/editorial4.html

From the August 30, 2002 print edition

More Print Edition Stories

Government Busters
 

Governor's race remains a wide-open contest

Jon Delano  

With the Labor Day weekend upon us, it's likely that you are aware that Pennsylvania will elect a new governor in nine weeks.

Campaigns in the 21st century are virtually nonstop, and nobody was particularly surprised that Mike Fisher and Ed Rendell kept up a frenetic pace as the rest of us vacationed, barbecued and lounged by the pool.

So one can wonder whether the traditional campaign kick-off that surrounds Labor Day means much any more.

Well, even if the candidates and their political partisans have been thinking politics all summer, the rest of us are just beginning to tune into what promises to be a furious fall campaign for the governor's mansion.

Conventional wisdom is that Mr. Rendell, a Democrat, will defeat Mr. Fisher, a Republican, by double-digit percentages, continuing the "eight-year jinx" in Pennsylvania politics that dictates that every eight years the party in the mansion switches.

After eight years of Republican rule, it's the Democrats' turn, the theory goes.

I don't buy it.

The history of Pennsylvania gubernatorial elections over the last half century confirms that most of these races without incumbents prove to be highly competitive and frequently come down to a 100,000 voters. That's a small number when compared to the three to four million people who will cast their ballots on Nov. 5.

In 1994, Republican Tom Ridge beat Democrat Mark Singel by only 198,000 votes out of the 3.5 million cast.

A shift of less than a 100,000 in the last days could have made Mr. Singel governor, a possibility until a felon paroled by the pardons board, chaired by Mr. Singel, murdered someone.

In 1986, Democrat Bob Casey beat Republican Bill Scranton by just 79,000 votes out of 3.3 million cast.

That victory was often attributed to scare tactics employed by Mr. Casey, whose campaign broadcast Mr. Scranton's interest in transcendental meditation and a long-haired guru.

A 40,000-vote shift would have been enough to put Mr. Scranton in the governor's mansion.

In 1978, Republican Dick Thornburgh beat Democrat Pete Flaherty by only 228,000 votes out of 3.7 million cast. That 8-point win for Mr. Thornburgh hardly constitutes a landslide.

Other gubernatorial races, remembered only by the old-timers, had finishes that were just as close.

In 1950, Republican John Fine beat Democrat Richardson Dilworth by just 86,000 votes and, in 1958, Democrat David Lawrence beat Republican Arthur McGonigle by 76,000 votes.

The point is that talk of double-digit percentage wins for any nonincumbent gubernatorial candidate defies Pennsylvania history.

Since World War II, only two such candidates won the governor's mansion by over a half million votes: Republican James Duff in 1946 and Democrat Milton Shapp in 1970.

This, of course, is some solace for Mr. Fisher who, according to the summertime election polls, trails Mr. Rendell by 15 points or so.

Those polls were taken in somewhat of a vacuum, however, long before the Labor Day kick-off of that period in which voters actually start to pay attention to what the candidates are saying.

If history is any predictor, the victor on Nov. 5 will win by less than 200,000 votes, and those who will determine that winner have not yet made up their minds.

Mr. Fisher, the most conservative Republican nominee in a generation, hopes to capitalize on strong support from the pro-life and anti-gun communities, coupled with an appeal to this region as the "hometown boy." He also looks to capitalize upon a traditional anti-Philadelphia bias present throughout the rest of the Pennsylvania.

Watch for his campaign to label Mr. Rendell a "big city liberal" who is out-of-step with basic Pennsylvania views and values.

For Mr. Rendell, watch for a repeat of his primary campaign theme, that he is a pro-growth, can-do mayor who can replicate as governor the same economic turn-around that he claims to have delivered while running the show in Philadelphia.

He has mended fences with organized labor, which opposed his nomination, while trying to keep his ties to traditionally Republican business groups.

Watch for his campaign to label Mr. Fisher as "inexperienced and ineffective" when it comes to running a multibillion-dollar government.

In the end, most Democrats will vote for Mr. Rendell and most Republicans will vote for Mr. Fisher.

But there is that core group of about a half million independent thinkers from both parties who will be targeted over the next two months by both of the candidates.

How they eventually choose to vote on Nov. 5 will determine the winner, and, in my view on this Labor Day, this race for governor is still very much a wide open affair.

MR. DELANO teaches public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School and is the money and politics editor for KDKA-TV and Radio and the political analyst for WQED-TV's "On Q Magazine." Contact him at jdelano@andrew.cmu.edu.

© 2002 American City Business Journals Inc.