Rasmussen PA Gov Poll: Rendell 52% to Swan 34%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/State%20Polls/May%202006/Pennsylvania%20Governor%20May.htm

I think this race has moved into the safe zone.

and the idea of that commonwealth - as much as I love my dear old home - electing anyone but a white guy for governor is just laughable.

I think someone has played Swann - who appears to have all the intelligence and political savvy of a riding lawn mower - for a real sucker, given the mess Santorum is in and the disdain the good PA people have right now for the Republicans.

I also don't live there any more, so I think it's really, really funny.

And Casey is gonna beat Santorum easily. My prediction.

Every poll shows him picking up a ton of support. Even his approval rating is up a lot.

I suspect my fellow Keystone Staters - a lot of whom aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer - finally noticed that Swann is not just a retired pro football star, but also not white.

They're slow, but they eventually do figure most things out.

It's that middle part of the state with all the fundies that are slow on the uptake. Was it Carville who said Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, separated by Alabama?

There is no way that the middlestaters could ever vote for a black. They referred to former Dem. Governor Milton Shapp, as "The Jew" and now they've transferred that affectionate nickname to Governor Rendell.

The middle of PA is really beautiful, and really, really "out there." My father used to joke about the PA State Police - who are worse than any you'd find 'way down south, even in 1965 - that the only different between them and the Gestapo was that one was out of business.

I'm an eastern PA Leftie, myself, right out of the anthracite country, where there was never any love for Republicans, but lots of love for unions, so I got my credentials early on from my parents and grandparents.

Yeah, I had forgotten about "The Jew."

I grew up in south central PA and nearly always had positive interactions with the PA State Police even when they stopped me for speeding. They were well trained and professional. I preferred them any day to some of the local town cops we had in that region. We heard all kinds of stories about them abusing their authority. The state troopers did have some Nazi looking uniforms for a while with the knee high leggings but they got rid of those in the late 60s and anyhow you can hardly fault the troopers for their uniforms. Plus I still think their hats are cool.

in the 1970s, I was stopped by a Statie. I had been speeding, but he was a pushover for a young, beautiful woman who told him that her husband had just been released from a Viet Cong prison camp. Yeah, he laughed, and let me go, and I continued on to visit my parents.

The next week, my father was stopped by the same cop - for speeding, which is a family tradition - and the Statie looked at his license, recognized the surname, said, "You're not as pretty as your daughter," and gave him a ticket.

My Dad laughed about that until the day he died, I swear.

Their high times might have been before your time, but, truly, they were horrid. Real bullies. Back in the days. I'm glad to hear they're not as bad.

Not dissing the idividual troopers, but driving the PA Turnpike for 20 some years makes me paranoid when driving in other states. I am constantly scanning the highways for places where a police car could be hiding with a radar gun. And if you should pass one PA trooper writing someone a ticket, don't assume it's now safe to speed for the next 20 miles, cause sometimes they string out 2 or 3 in a row, just because they know that's how drivers think. The thing is, speeding is dangerous, and people should obey the law, BUT on the Turnpike, there are spots which drop suddenly from 65 to 55 for no discernible reason other than, I think, it makes for a good speed trap. There's no construction, no curves - you're in the middle of nowhere. And if you miss spotting the reduced speed sign (easy to do with the tons of trucks and SUVs blocking your view), hello $120 ticket. Flashing headlights to warn oncoming cars of a speed trap is the unofficial state sport.

The thing is, in other states, state police place their cars prominently to remind people not to speed; they do not hide and pounce. For awhile, Maryland was staging empty police cars at parts of the highway where people were likely to speed. I think the PA state police higher ups have given priority to raising money rather than inhibiting speeding. And I know from a few complaints passed on to state representatives from individual state police that failing to meet their "unofficial" ticket quota earns them grief from some supervisors.

One of my closest friends lives in Bedford and she'd sooner die than vote Republican.

First off, you have to give Rendell some credit ... The man is kind of like Clinton, he REALLY loves his job ... Gets all over the state on a very regular basis, will talk to reporters until THEY stop the interview ... He is sharp, and hasn't sat back, going on the attack ...

Second ... Swann is a victim of the revolt within the republican party in the state ... Again, the payraise thing got all the pub, but it really was a coup within the party, with the hardline conservatives winning out ... Julilier was key in putting Swann up, and that was one of the things that did him in that the press isn't getting the word out ... It bodes well for the short term, Rendell seems pretty safe, and Casey might knock an R out of one of the two senate spots ... BUT, the party is still going to rule on both sides of the state house, and is going to veer harder to the right ...

Swann ... It is funny ... You would assume that he would be weak on issues, but would be REALLY playing up the personality thing, but it has been the opposite ... He has been VERY well schooled, and spits out republican agenda fairly coherently ... BUT, he has been very stiff, and the media has been turned off because he won't make time for them outside of scheduled events ... AGAIN, with Rendell being a junior Clinton in that regard ...

Also ... In the end, people have the choice between a guy with a proven record as an executive politician, a BIG guy who is good at it, vs a guy who has zero, LITERALLY, ZERO political experience ...

I was a little worried about it, until I started to tune into the rift in the state party ... They just are not going to get behind Swann, and Rendall won't screw it up ... Swann had a long haul to begin with, but IF the party had/would get behind him, he could make a run ... But, I don't think they are ...

and like a big dumb dog that chases after a skunk, he fell for it. The Repugs have a long tradition of running African American, Latino or female candidates who they know have no chance of winning (and whom they have no real plans of helping win) as a crass PR strategy.

I've seen the recent polls for Ed Rendell and he just went above the 60% approval rating. But even when he was hovering just below 50%, Rendell still had very strong approval rating from his home town (and largest city in PA), Philadelphia. Rendell was a tough race for anyone knowing that Rendell would get strong returns from not only the place where he was former Mayor but also the counties that surround the city.

So knowing that Rendell would be a difficult defeat, why would someone overly qualified to be governor like Bill Scranton, waste time in money in what would probably be an uphill & losing battle? Scranton is a moderate, much like former republican governor Tom Ridge and it seems that moderates appeal to the keystone state. So if Scranton was the candidate this november, he would have been very competetive against Rendell.

But I think Scranton did what republicans did back in the 1996 presidental election. They're doing a throw-away. Republicans already have control of the house & senate, so being stuck another 4 years with a democrat running things won't be as bad since they do have the ability to fight back. And with the stink of the pay-raise fiasco still ticking off the voters, the republicans will need to fight hard in order to save their control in this upcoming election.

So whoever made the decision, whether it was Scranton or the PA Repub party, it was probably best to toss someone like Swann into the race that could his own money on name appeal and then let the party focus on the house/senate races where they will have an uphill battle. In 2010, Rendell is out on term limits and Catherine Baker Knoll would be a weak opponent if she opts to run (the woman is nearing 80). Then a candidate like Scranton would probably have a much easier time winning back the statehouse.

Personally I think they did the same thing with Dole in 1996. Republicans wanted to get back the white house to return back to the Reagan agenda but Clinton was very popular dispite all the scandals. It was better to wait 4 years until the Bush brothers were properly groomed and then take back the house then. Plus it gave them 4 more years to finish fixing the election

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=175&topic_id=10225&mesg_id=10225

I just posted it. This is just frappin' unbelievable.

I was hoping Swan would lose. I do not want the Republicans to win much this election cycle.

The RW offers this guy up and claims they are the party of diversity. How stupid are voters, anyway?

Then again, look at what Californins fell for.

wingers just scarfed up the PA newspapers. There will be torrents of Swann/Santorum propaganda flung from the catapult for the next 5 months. Don't put it in the safe zone yet.

that showed a similar margin. At first, I believed that poll was an outlier, but after seeing this poll, I guess I was wrong.

The last Survey USA poll I saw had him at almost sixty percent. This poll and the Quinnipiac one also show sharp rises in his approval ratings.

running a massive amount of TV-spots. This could have something to do with it. Apparently Swann's fundraising has been rather poor and he cannot counter.

That would explain it, I suppose.

I heard via the staff grapevine that the big GOP donors who would traditionally give $20/$25,000 only gave $1,000 to Swann.

are the big donors just not that impressed with Swann? Or both?

The last thing he said in his speech was that at one point during his last campaign, he was down by 25 points, then went on to win the gov race.
Don't get comfortable. That was his advice and his warning.

Things look good right now, but repubs are sneaky.



Go ED!!!!