May I take a moment here as a born and bred Pennsylvanian and profusely apologize for Specter’s presence in the senate. I voted for Pat Toomey when he ran against Specter and was more than a little pissed off when Santorum and Bush stabbed Toomey in the back and campaigned for Arlen. He is a disgrace as a senator. Here’s hoping he retires tomorrow. I cannot stand the man.
Why don’t you guys start running Franco Harris tomorrow to replace him
Get Joe-Pa to come out and campaign
How do we fix this though?
I’m looking at CNN Election totals and PA maps from 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2008.
Bush kept is close because he was able to beat Gore and Kerry in Chester and Berks Counties, run about even in Bucks and Montgomery, and was able to offset the losses he suffered in Delaware and Philadelphia, with the central counties, York, Adams, Lancaster, etc. In fact, had Bush carried the western counties McCain got in 2008, Bush would have won PA in 2004.
However, the map for 2006 and 2008 is both bleak. Casey and Obama took every major suburban county around Philadelphia by 20+ points. McCain’s marginal loss was smaller than Santorum’s only because he carried the western counties outside Pittsburgh and Erie.
The GOP needs somebody who can carry (by at least 8-10%) Berks and Lehigh Counties and get the other Phili counties into respectable margins. Is there a GOP conservative in PA who can realistically do this?
“May I take a moment here as a born and bred Pennsylvanian and profusely apologize for Specter’s presence in the senate. I voted for Pat Toomey when he ran against Specter and was more than a little pissed off when Santorum and Bush stabbed Toomey in the back and campaigned for Arlen. He is a disgrace as a senator. Here’s hoping he retires tomorrow. I cannot stand the man.”
This was the same with me. Pat Toomey was a great canidate. He won every county in the state expect the winnies in Philly county.