Pennsylvania
Related: About this forumHysterically funny article trashing Corbett's campaign hopes & in the Tribune Review!
It's amazing to me that the Tribune-Review would trash a GOP Governor like this. And although the piece went on line at 11 p.m. last night, not a single rabid conservative reader has come to Corbett's defense in the comments section. With his approval ratings down to 24% in the latest poll, combined with a voter turnout that will likely be under 30%, one hopes for a REALLY low GOP turnout, resulting in the most epic loss ever in a PA. Governor's race, and boost to Democrats running down-ticket from Wolf.
http://triblive.com/opinion/ericheyl/6661449-74/corbett-percent-wolf#axzz3BiZRNb75
Rubber, Corbett expected to hit road as polls show likely loss in governor's race
Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, 11:06 p.m.
Updated 13 hours ago
The smell of burning rubber is wafting through Pennsylvania. It is the scent that results when the accelerator is floored, but the vehicle remains in park with its tires squealing. It is the scent of Gov. Tom Corbett's re-election campaign.
Despite there being more than two months before Election Day, a sense of inevitability is pooling under the Governor's Mansion like leaking oil collecting beneath an aging Chevy. Corbett faces nearly insurmountable odds in defeating Democratic challenger Tom Wolf in November.
After his abysmal polling numbers in late spring, Corbett needed to gain considerable ground on Wolf over the summer. Instead of moving forward, the governor was pushed off the spring line of scrimmage as easily as a lightweight offensive lineman with an eating disorder.
In June, a Franklin & Marshall University poll had Wolf in the lead, 47 percent to 25 percent with 27 percent of respondents undecided. The latest Franklin & Marshall poll released on Thursday had Wolf ahead 49 percent to 24 percent, with 25 percent undecided. There's more. Corbett's favorability declined to 24 percent in the latest poll, down from 27 percent in June. Corbett's unfavorability increased to 56 percent, up from 49. Corbett's unlikely path to victory seems clear at this point: Somehow persuade the entire undecided demographic to vote for him, while maintaining hope that a small percentage of Wolf supporters tragically perish in a rare autumnal avalanche in Colorado.
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Divernan
(15,480 posts)The Corbett campaign's curious response to the atrocious numbers was to tie Wolf to Ed Rendell, Corbett's predecessor as governor. A Corbett campaign commercial that debuted on Thursday equated voting for Wolf to voting for a third term for Rendell.
Corbett campaign spokesman Billy Pitman explained the reasoning behind the spot: Wolf was Rendell's chief tax collector, and their administration left Pennsylvania with higher taxes, high unemployment, a $4.2 billion budget deficit and a complete failure of our children by cutting state funding for schools and using one-time stimulus funds to cover it up.
That's all well and good, but it's a highly unusual campaign strategy to tie your opponent to someone more popular than your own candidate. Rendell was re-elected in 2006 by a 20-point margin over Republican Lynn Swann, and conceivably could have won again in 2010 were it not for term limits.
So the commercial's message essentially is this: Remember that governor who was so popular that you re-elected him in a landslide? Guess what our opponent is just like him.
I can't figure out how that helps Corbett sway the undecided.
Read more: http://triblive.com/opinion/ericheyl/6661449-74/corbett-percent-wolf#ixzz3Bnh2wKfz
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Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)and to add this to it, I can't stop laughing. Corbett has no clue what he is doing, as candidate or governor.
tech3149
(4,452 posts)The only thing useful out of it were the obits and crossword. With a zero income budget you don't spend money on things of no value.
I am not too surprised there has been no or little defense of Gov Gashole at this point. He is giving Repubs a bad name and even the party elite want to cut him loose. The man offers no positive assets and is every bit as irritating as Rmoney.
Divernan
(15,480 posts)The PG allows 10 free articles per month. So I'm very sparing of which PG articles/editorials I click on.
The Trib does a better job on covering neighborhood news - but I still would never pay to read the Trib either.
tech3149
(4,452 posts)I never see any coverage of town meetings or county commissioner BS for my area.
Divernan
(15,480 posts)They also do a lot of local color stories on non-sport accomplishments of local high school/college students/paramedic calls/ follow ups on trials/sentencing re local crimes/etc. It's sort of like having a small town paper. I also prefer the Trib's online layout - news separated by about 10 SW counties, plus individual communities - whereas the PG does east,west,north & south, and only Washington and Westmoreland counties. Since my congressional district, the twelfth consists of parts of 6 counties, I like to easily follow those areas too.
tech3149
(4,452 posts)I know the print version never had anything about local politics(Westmoreland Co) until it was already done. I actually had a LTTE published congratulating them for their "editorial balance" but that was back when at least two progressive voices from Texas could get some column inches. That didn't last too long.