I remember when Rick “Man-on-Dog” Santorum lost his place in Washington, because even he was too far towards the crazy Right for Pennsylvania voters, yet here we are with the possibility to elect Toomey, a conservative who makes Santorum look like a progressive. Fortunately, with a large enough block of undecided voters, if Democrats choose to make a difference, they can wake up, get to the polls and stop Pennsylvania’s decline into the Dark ages.
Republican Tom Corbett has a one point lead over Democrat Dan Onorato, while GOP Senate candidate Pat Toomey is 4 points ahead of Democrat Joe Sestak, according to a Critical Insights Research poll of likely voters conducted Sept. 14-16 for the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader.
Corbett, the state’s attorney general, leads Onorato, Allegheny county executive (the Pittsburgh area), by 38 percent to 37 percent with 25 percent undecided.
I was asked yesterday, if I could support a third party candidate who was more liberal than these two front runners, and my answer was “no.” The individual who asked seemed disappointed in the answer, but the thinking is the same as the reasons why the far right has given up on trying to push for a write in  for Sam Rohrer. To them, Corbett is too liberal, and Rohrer the better choice, but given the polling, and what is at stake in this election, there isn’t any room to get caught up in a too-late attempt to alter the political landscape of a very conservative democratic state.
I do care how progressive our governor is, and a very progressive governor would be ideal. A shake up to our very entrenched two party system wouldn’t be a bad thing either, but any possibility to elect a totally unrecognized name candidate, no matter what their politics has as much chance as a snowball in hell. It could snow this afternoon in Pittsburgh easier than it would be to get a person with no name recognition elected. A third party candidate on either the left of the right, is simply going to give the other side a better chance to win, and I think there is too much at stake to allow for that.
If Corbett wins, it is because voters:
- Just don’t care if the state is ever going to start moving forward and become a place for jobs and prosperity again.
- Are just a block of zombies who, every eight years, vote for the other party, no matter.
- Haven’t noticed that Corbett has no real platform to run on, has no real ideas for improving PA, and has said whatever any audience has wanted to hear.
- Democrats simply stay home and don’t turn out to vote. Traditionally, voter turnout is lower in an off year election, but if Republican voters turn out in big numbers, any slacking by the Dems will be just what Corbett needs to seal the election.
Of these choices, my guess is the last one is the most accurate statement, and the real work now is making sure to get the Dems out to vote.
As important, if not more important than the governor’s race, is the fact that if Dems stay home and don’t vote, it is likely that Republicans will also take control of the State House. This will place the entire state government in the hands of the Republicans, and all progress on progressive issues will come to a screeching halt. WE just barely stopped a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage last year. If Republicans control all branches of state government, they are likely to get such an amendment passed. The governor, while not directly responsible for such an amendment, has already come out and said that he will push for such an amendment. LGBT voters can not allow Tom corbett to be elected, nor for the House to switch to Republican rule.