The Thin Man

Open 5th seat in spotlight

Republican losses this year in three special elections for congressional seats should turn up the spotlight on the race for the open seat in Pennsylvania's 5th Congressional District, which includes all of Centre County.

Republicans in Congress woke up Wednesday with their heads spinning after a victory by Mississippi Democrat Travis Childers in traditional Republican district. Democrats also captured earlier special elections for congressional seats in Illinois and Louisiana.

The 17-county 5th Congressional District went up for grabs on Jan. 3, when 12-year incumbent U.S. Rep. John Peterson announced he would not seek re-election after his current two-year term expires.

The April 22 primary elections were won by Howard Township Republican Glenn Thompson, former chair of the Centre County Republican Committee, and Democrat Mark McCracken, who is in his second term as a Clearfield County Commissioner.

Registered Republicans in the 5th District outnumber Democrats by 13,000, an advantage that will have to be overcome by any Democrat trying to match the special-election upsets in Mississippi, Louisiana and Illinois.

The Republican losses there were broadly attributed to dissatisfaction with the policies of President Bush. With the special-election victories, U.S. House Democrats now outnumber Republicans 236 to 199.

Big, two-hearted novel

There's nothing quite like a few days off in springtime and the coincidental discovery of a great book. It's something like winning the lottery without all the worries about finding a scrupulous lawyer.

"Sacred Hunger" by British novelist Barry Unsworth tells a story about 18th century slave trade, ranging from London to Africa to Florida.

The book puts this huge history onto a Liverpool-built two-master and into the personalities and power relations of a few characters you come to love or hate or at times have mixed feelings about.

"Sacred Hunger" takes more than 600 pages to tell the tale but you can't put it down and then you don't want it to end.

It makes you wish you'd read it when it was first published 16 years ago. It makes you wish you could make it required reading for the world.

Big 5th move comes late

In endorsing Glenn Thompson of Centre County last Friday, U.S. Rep. John Peterson seemed to acknowledge that it might be a little late, with barely a week left until the April 22 primary election.

At least three of the nine Republican candidates probably have built up stronger name recognition than Thompson because they've been buying expensive TC air time to broadcast commercials to promote their names.

Peterson said he didn't make the final decision until Thursday morning, the day before the Toftrees news conference was hastily arranged to announced it.

"I should have decided quicker — I apologize," Peterson told the Toftrees audience.

Club for Growth: Shaner

The Club for Growth PAC on Monday endorsed State College businessman Matt Shaner, for the 5th Congressional District seat.

The endorsement e-mail said Shaner has shown the courage to fight against wasteful spending in Washington by signing an anti-earmark pledge.

The Club said Shaner is also a strong believer in cutting taxes, opening foreign markets to American exports and limited government.

The Club identified Shaner, Clearfield County financial consultant Derek Walker and Lycoming County businessman Jeff Stroehmann as the three top candidates for the Republican nomination.

They are the only candidates so far spending money on TV commercials.

The president of the Club for Growth is former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, whom Shaner supported when Toomey unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in 2004 for the Republican nomination for senator.

“A lot of candidates like to call themselves ‘conservative’ but don’t take the steps to back up their words," Toomey said in the press release. "By signing a pledge to reform the earmarking process, Shaner demonstrates the backbone necessary to fight for taxpayers in Pennsylvania’s 5th Congressional District.”

Cahir on King anniversary

Bill Cahir, Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania's 5th Congressisonal District, issued the following statement today in recognizing the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“The 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., reminds us that Dr. King was more than a spokesman for civil rights. Dr. King was one of the great heroes of the 20th Century. He challenged all Americans to make real the Constitution's promise of equal rights, universal justice and due process under law.

"We remember Dr. King not as a victim, but as a leader who helped revive the Southern economy, enhance the voting rights of all citizens and breathe new life into the U.S. Constitution. Dr. King was a rebel and a patriot; his dream is alive today; and the country is a better place because of it.”

White backs Walker

State Sen. Don White, Republican of Indiana County, has endorsed Clearfield County Republican Derek Walker for the 5th District Republican nomination.

White said he has known Walker for a long time and referred to his plan to get more doctors and health care professionals to locate in rural Pennsylvania.

"Pennsylvania has not been friendly to our doctors," White said. "Gov. Rendell has made it quite clear that he is not going to support any legislation addressing tort reform and capping limits on non-economic damage awards from medical malpractice cases."

White's district includes a part of Clearfield County that is in the 5th Congressional District.

Rendell endorses Vilello

Lock Haven Mayor Rick Vilello, one of three Democrats competing for the 5th District congressional nomination, captured the endorsement of Gov. Ed Rendell on Tuesday night.

The governor was quoted in an e-mail sent by the Vilello campaign saying that Vilello would continue the economic development for the 5th District that he has undertaken in the Clinton County city of Lock Haven.

The other Democrats in the 5th District race are Bill Cahir of Bellefonte and Mark McCracken of Clearfield County.

Booties on Obama bus

Everybody loved the booties. Some called them Team Booties, alluding to the short term for the Obama campaign.

The men and women on the Barack Obama media bus — mostly people with cameras — had to slip the blue plastic bags over their street shoes before they walked into Penn State's dairy complex Sunday.

The booties were not to protect our shoes from manure from the scores of Holstein cows and calves inside the barns, even though manure was a distinct possibility.

"There will be manure," an Obama staffer standing in the front of the bus shouted toward the back.

No, the booties were to protect the inside of the barns and the cows from what the people might carry in on the bottom of their shoes.

The booties made it look like we were wearing poor man's moon suits from the knee down, and the photographers especially were eager to know whether they'd be able to witness booties over Obama's shoes as well.

But that was not to be. Both Obama and Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey showed up not wearing booties, but what appeared to be brand new Timberland boots.

And the manure? Penn State had the concrete walkways in the barns cleaned up for the most part. The walkways were instead covered with sawdust.

And the cows? They just kept on eating.

Obama arrives at Penn State

Sen. Barack Obama accompanied by Sen. Bob Casey arrived at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday.

With Secret Service agents posted around their bus, Casey got off first and then Obama, wearing a suit and waving to bystanders who shouted out greetings.

Two women on the sidewalk in front of the hotel got his attention, and Obama waved them past the Secret Service agent. Each posed with Obama while the other snapped a cell phone photo.

Obama then continued into the lobby and got onto an elevator with Casey, as a lobby full of well
wishers cheered him on.  The Obama campaign has taken an entire floor of the Penn Stater.

A second bus carrying reporters from major newspapers and otehr media outlets followed the Obama bus.

Obama is scheduled to appear at a rally that starts at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on Old Main lawn on the Penn State campus.

Links to Congress crowd

With nine Republicans and three Democrats running for the 5th Congressional District seat in Pennsylvania, it can be hard to keep track.

So here they all are again, in alphabetical order, linked to their Web sites so you can check out what they say about themselves:

• Former Centre County Commissioner Chris Exarchos of Lemont, College Township, Centre County.
• Insurance agent John Krupa of Avis, Clinton County, a former supervisor of Pine Creek Township.
• Elk County Coroner Lou Radkowski of Saint Marys, a funeral director.
• Keith Richardson of Clarion, pastor of the First Baptist Church.
• Centre County businessman Matt Shaner of Patton Township.
• Jeff Stroehmann of Linden, Lycoming County, former Woodward Township supervisor.
• Clarion Mayor John Stroup, executive director of a hospital foundation.
• Health care professional Glenn Thompson of Howard Township, Centre County.
• Financial consultant Derek Walker of Bradfor Township, Clearfield County.

Three Democrats are competing for their party's nomination:

• Bill Cahir of Bellefonte, a Marine Corps reservist and Iraq War veteran.
• Clearfield County Comissioner Mark McCracken of Lawrence Township.
• Lock Haven Mayor Rick Vilello, a self-employed building inspector.

Morris backs Vilello

State College Councilman Peter Morris said Thursday he will support Lock Haven Mayor Rick Vilello in the race for the Democratic nomination for the 5th Congressional District, saying the paramount issue is the war in Iraq.

"To me, the most important national issue right now is the continuing tragedy of the war in Iraq," Morris said. "Of all the candidates, Rick is the most forthright and honest about the necessity of ending the loss of American lives and wealth in the Iraqi quagmire."

"In some ways, this was not an easy decision," Morris said, "but I am confident I have made the
right one."

Morris is treasurer of the State College Peace Center, which sponsored an anti-war rally at College Avenue and South Allen Street Wednesday evening. Vilello attended the rally.

Mifflin's Riden backs Thompson

Mifflin County Commissioner Otis Riden on Thursday endorsed Howard Township Republican Glenn Thompson for the Republican nomination for the 5th District congressional seat.

"I think he will have the people's interest in mind," Riden said.

Riden was appointed commissioner in 2006 and won election to the post last year.

Thompson is one of nine Republicans competing for the nomination. Thompson and two others — former Centre County Commissioner Chris Exarchos and State College businessman Matt Shaner — are from Centre County.

None of the candidates is from Mifflin County.

Wozniak, Hanna back Vilello

Lock Haven Mayor Rick Vilello, Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania’s 5th District U.S. congressional seat, announced Thursday he's been endorsed by two state lawmakers whose districts include Clinton County: State Rep. Mike Hanna, D-Lock Haven, and state Sen. John Wozniak, D-Johnstown,

Hanna praised Vilello's "track record in revitalizing our downtown and fostering economic development," and Wozniak said Vilello's understanding of local government can help find "solutions to many of the issues rural Pennsylvanians face."

Vilello said he's also been endorsed by Pottsville Mayor John D.W. Reiley, president of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities, and Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty. 

Veterans endorse Cahir

The political action committee for VoteVets.org, a group representing veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, announced today its endorsement of State College native Bill Cahir, a Marine Corps veteran of two tours in Iraq.

Cahir, a sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserve, is the only veteran running for office in Pennsylvania's 5th Congressional District. He is one of three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination. Nine others are competing for the Republican nomination.

Cahir received a $1,000 contribution from the VoteVets.org PAC in conjunction with the endorsement.

NOW backs Tosti-Vasey

The political action committee of the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Organization for Women has endorsed Bellefonte Democrat Joanne Tosti-Vasey for the 171st state House district seat.

Tosti-Vasey is president of Pennsylvania NOW.

Justine Andronici, the Pennsylvania NOW PAC interim treasurer, said that "feminist voters have the tremendous opportunity to send one of our own to the Pennsylvania State Assembly" and added that "Joanne is a committed feminist who is dedicated to full equality for all women."

Tosti-Vasey is competing with Spring Township Democrat Tim Wilson for the Democratic nomination in the 171st state House district. The winner will face incumbent Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, in the November election.

County posts election data

Centre County revised its Web site today to emphasize information about the April 22 primary election. It placed three links at the top of its home page: to an election guide, polling places and election results.

There's a ton of helpful information here, as useful if not more so than any other county Web site I've come across in Pennsylvania at least.

You can get stuff on how to register, how to vote by absentee ballot, where you vote and what to expect at your polling place.

The results of every primary and general election from 1996 to last November in on line.

You can find out there that the biggest primary election turnout happened last May, when a highly competitive race for the State College Area school board helped attract 26,228 people.

That number will almost certainly be topped on April 22 because voters across the county including thousands of Penn State students will be driven to the polls by fiercely competitive Democratic presidential candidates as well as rivalries for the Democratic and Republican nominations for the open 5th District congressional seat.

Voter registration shifts

For at least the last 10 years, and probably a lot longer, the proportions of Republicans and Democrats in Centre County has remained stable.

The Republicans have always claimed more than 44 percent of the registered voters, and the Democrats no more than 38 percent.

The percentages would wiggle around a little bit, but those two thresholds held fast.

Until now.

This week, for the first time that I can remember, the Republican share has fallen to 43.8 percent (36,745), and the Democratic share has increased to 39.1 percent (32,779). Total registration is 83,748.

From the start of the year to this week, the Democrats have added 1,080 to their ranks while the Republicans have added 145. The number of no-affiliation voters has diminished by 111.

Most of this shift surely owes to the hot Democratic presidential primary ahead, as independent and Republican voters switch registration to Democratic to vote for either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary.

A question for later will be whether the shift lasts, or falls back.

100 at Obama meeting

One hundred people or more came to a Barack Obama campaign meeting Thursday night at the State College Municipal Building to brainstorm strategies to register voters.

The crowd did not include any Penn State students that I could tell — about 60 members of the Penn State Students for Obama met the previous evening in a Willard Building classroom on campus.

But they did include an 18-year-old State High senior, Krishna Esteva, and octogenarian Owen Trout, and others in between.

On Sunday at the Sunset West Restaurant in Pleasant Gap, 60 or more supporters of Hillary Clinton gathered to map strategy, though their organizer declared all but an opening speech off the record.

These meetings are the start of what will be an intense voter registration period until March 24, the last day to register for the April 22 primary. Then there'll be a month of campaigning — Iowa on steroids, as someone else has remarked — until the voting for the Democratic presidential nomination.

At the Obama meeting, organizer Stephen Ekema-Agbaw, who worked seven months in South Carolina before the primary there, introduced two others from Obama's national staff who'll be in town until April 22.

"We're going to be getting more," he said. "We're going to be getting a whole lot more."

Then he told everyone in the room to stand up, find someone he or she didn't yet know, and take five minutes to get to know that individual.

Then the crowd split up into about 10 groups of 10 to brainstorm voter-registration strategies.

"It takes a lot of courage to change your registration after you've been registered one way all your life," Ekema-Agbaw said.

Sam Smith backs Walker

Republican congressional candidate Derek Walker of Clearfield County received what he called a key endorsement in Punxsutawney, Jefferson County, this morning from state House Republican Leader Sam Smith.

"I am announcing my support for Derek Walker because I believe Derek will bring a fresh voice to the debate in Washington," Smith said in a prepared statement.

"As a life-long resident of small-town Pennsylvania, Derek understands the struggles facing our communities and will fight to protect our rural values," Smith said in the statement.

Walker said Smith's support is important because he is highly respected in Jefferson County and the the rest of the state.

Rudy, Saylor back Cahir

Former state Rep. Ruth C. Rudy and former Centre County Commissioner John Saylor have endorsed Bellefonte resident Bill Cahir for the Democratic nomination for the 5th District congressional seat, the Cahir campaign announced Monday.

"Our region needs an infusion of new ideas and new energy and Bill brings both of those to the table with his candidacy to be our next congressman," Rudy said in a prepared statement."

Ruth Rudy, as past president of the National Federation of Democratic Women, is a member of the Democratic National Committee and a superdelegate to the member to the Democratic National Convention.

In the same prepared statement, Saylor, an Air Force veteran, said he was "proud" that Cahir had served two tours of duty in Iraq as a U.S. Marine.