Recently in Politics Category

District Attorney Stan Rebert has just conceded to Tom Kearney.

It's the end of an era. Stan's been D.A. for 24 years.

Maybe voters thought it was time for him to go. Maybe they thought it was time for a change. Maybe they considered Stan's health problems.

Earlier today, I was talking to a local elected official who thought Stan was in trouble in this primary. The reason? The Bill Graff thing pushed people over the edge. If you'll recall, Graff, Stan's right-hand-man, retired suddenly not long ago. The official said he believed Graff was pushed out.

The official said it bothered people that one day Stan was putting his arm around Graff and calling him the best prosecutor in the land, and the next he was booting him to the curb.

The final irony, if that analysis holds any water, is that when Stan announced his re-election bid, he was introduced by Bill Graff.

As Kim Bracey glided to victory in the Democratic primary, the historic nature of her victory wasn't lost on former York City Councilman and community elder statesman Ray Crenshaw.

If she wins in November, Bracey would be the city's first African-American mayor.

"I'm elated," Crenshaw, who ran for mayor in 2001 and lost in the primary to Charlie Robertson, said. "Obama was a wake-up call for black people, that we can do it."

When Bracey entered the upstairs room at Cobblestones, her supporters gave her a rock-star welcome.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a woman announced, "let's have a big cheer for the next mayor of the city of York, Kim Bracey."

As I talked to Crenshaw, it occurred to me that there was another parallel with Obama. I told Crenshaw that, like the country, the city has a lot of problems. So it was like, "Congratulations. Now here's this big pile of crap to clean up."

"You got that right," Crenshaw said.

Most of the political gatherings were fairly low key.

D.A. candidate Tom Kearney's supporters gathered at Spataro's restaurant on Roosevelt Avenue, where they ate pasta ad awaited results. Early in the evening, Kearney was feeling confident. Early results from suburban precincts were showing him with comfortable leads.

At Democratic headquarters, few party stalwarts gathered to have cake, a wedding cake supposed to symbolize "A Marriage of Passion and Leadership." Just a little advice: Next time have an open bar and have a marriage of passion and free liquor. You'll get a bigger crowd.

Judicial candidate Harry Ness and his family and friends occupied a corner table in the bar at the Yorktowne Hotel, where they sipped wine and awaited results. "Pretty depressing, right?" Ness said.

It was a different story at Cobblestones, where mayoral candidate Kim Bracey's supporters gathered. More on that later.

Patrick Dugan is running for judge in Philadelphia. Sure, we can't vote for him here -- even under the flexible Philly election laws -- but I think we can get behind his candidacy.

The man knows how to appeal to his constituency.

Tip of the hat to the Philadelphia Metro, where the ad first appeared, and Attytood, Will Bunch's blog for the Philly Daily News.

Last fall, the polling place at the Grantley Fire Co. in Spring Garden Township was a circus. The line stretched down the block, a two-hour wait for voters. A musician set up a portable rig outside the fire hall and played guitar and sang old favorites. York College students patrolled the line, selling Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and soft drinks.

The atmosphere was festive.

This year, though, was a lot different. There was no line. Voters had time to stop and talk to neighbors. One woman brought her dog with her when she voted.

"It's boring," said judge elections Anne Hoover.

Well, boring is good if you're the person who had to wait in line two hours to vote last fall.

Rose Johnston was one of those people.

"I left and came back," she said of last fall. "I think I lined up for about an hour. Today, it's just a trickle."

York County Coroner Barry Bloss Sr. was at the Springettsbury Township polling place at the Eastside Church on Eastern Boulevard, handing out literature for his son, Barry Jr., a city cop running for district justice.

Barry Jr.'s opponent, Mike Sciangula, a retired township cop, was there too, handing out literature and chatting up voters.

"What's worse," Sciangula said, pointing to Bloss, "is I voted for him."

Bloss said he'd return the favor, but couldn't. "I don't live in the district."

Bloss, a veteran campaigner, said he wasn't sure whether handing out materials at the polls works. He thinks, maybe, people already have their minds made up when they go to vote. On the other hand, he asked one voter today whether handing them a notepad at the door made any difference and she said it had.

"So I don't know what to make of that," he said. "If I knew what worked, I'd do that full-time, run campaigns."

Talked to one old guy at the polls. He talked about the economy and how bad it was and how much he hopes President Obama can turn it around.

He grew up during the tail end of the Great Depression. He remembers his mother would make blind pot pie for dinner. Blind pot pie was boiled noodles, no meat. He remembers her mother saying if his father could work two days a week, they'd be all right.

Stopped by my own polling place -- The Praise Center in Windsor Township -- and spent some time talking to the people handing out literature. They were all very nice and were just enjoying the day. No huge crowds. Nice weather. Sunny. Not too warm.

Four of the judicial candidates were handing out literature. A couple were handing out notepads. Five-year-old Ashton Buras, who accompanied his mother, Dawn, to the polls, got two notepads and a pencil.

He thought it was pretty cool, getting free stuff. But he was kind of shy about expressing it.

His mother said, "I'm just trying to show him that voting is fun."

On a beautiful May afternoon, not having to wait in line, yes, it is fun.

I will be living blogging today's excellent primary election starting sometime today.

Watch this space for updates on the district attorney's race. Will Stan the Man stay in office or will Tom the (something that rhymes with "Tom") unseat the veteran prosecutor? Who will be elected judge? I don't know. Who will be the new mayor and win the honor of leading a city that's broke, beset by violence and facing horrible problems? Who would want to be mayor.

Stayed tuned.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter on leaving the Republican party:

"I have been a Republican since 1966. I have been working extremely hard for the party, for its candidates and for the ideals of a Republican Party whose tent is big enough to welcome diverse points of view. While I have been comfortable being a Republican, my party has not defined who I am. I have taken each issue one at a time and have exercised independent judgment to do what I thought was best for Pennsylvania and the nation.

"Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

Arlen hasn't left the Republican party; the Republican party left him.

This photo, from last year's campaign might have offered a hint:

Look at the expression on Arlen's face. Says all that needs to be said.

Arlen was going to face a tough challenge from wingnut Pat Toomey. He probably would have lost a GOP primary, seeing as GOP primary's are dominated by right-wingers. Toomey can't win a general election. Voters in Pennsylvania, working people, have had enough of the conservative economic policies that leave them behind.

Arlen didn't want to be left behind.

All he did was jump a sinking ship.

Sad to say, but "South Park" does a good job explaining things. Here Stan finds out exactly how the bailout works.

Makes as much sense as anything.

From Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Sorry. I got him confused with someone else.

Often, our own U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., gets criticized for his moderate stances, irritating those on the left and the right with his willingness to try to get something done.

He has come out in favor of the stimulus bill, albeit a compromise bill hammered out by a small group of senate moderates.

He explains his position in a Washington Post op-ed piece here.

It begins: "I am supporting the economic stimulus package for one simple reason: The country cannot afford not to take action.

"The unemployment figures announced Friday, the latest earnings reports and the continuing crisis in banking make it clear that failure to act will leave the United States facing a far deeper crisis in three or six months. By then the cost of action will be much greater -- or it may be too late."

Arlen gets it. How come the right-wingers, whose fiscal policies of the past 28 years have led to this disaster, don't?

Still, Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman argues that the centrist approach doesn't go far enough to fill the hole we've dug ourselves. Krugman, who has been right in calling the shots in this economic disaster, says President Obama erred in trying to forge a bi-partisan coalition in favor of the stimulus bill and that his attempts to do so watered down the Senate version to the point of reducing its effectiveness.

Krugman writes: "So has Mr. Obama learned from this experience? Early indications aren't good.

"For rather than acknowledge the failure of his political strategy and the damage to his economic strategy, the president tried to put a postpartisan happy face on the whole thing. 'Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands,' he declared on Saturday, and 'the scale and scope of this plan is right.'

"No, they didn't, and no, it isn't."

Read his piece here.

Here's Del McCoury and some friends updating a tune that has some meaning these days.

Republican opposition to the stimulus plan has reached the point of idiocy.

Don't take my word for it. Here is an excellent analysis by Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein.

Pearlstein writes: "Actually, what's striking is that supposedly intelligent people are horrified at the thought that, during a deep recession, government might try to help the economy by buying up-to-date equipment for the people who protect us from epidemics and infectious diseases, by hiring people to repair environmental damage on federal lands and by contracting with private companies to make federal buildings more energy-efficient.

"What really irks so many Republicans, of course, is that all the stimulus money isn't being used to cut individual and business taxes, their cure-all for economic ailments, even though all the credible evidence is that tax cuts are only about half as stimulative as direct government spending."

He says Republicans need some remedial economic education, that their ignorance of basic facts, or their cynicism exploiting others' basic economic illiteracy, could make what is a financial crisis into a catastrophe.

Here's more from Daniel Gross, business columnist for Newsweek. He concludes that Republicans are taking their economic advice from Joe the Plumber.

As today's dismal job report emphasizes, we need action on the economy immediately. Holding it up can only bring more pain and when the hammer falls and working people in the country are losing their jobs, homes and pensions, they will remember who stood in the schoolhouse door.