"That trick never works!"

Watch Bryan Lentz, the Democrat running in my home Pa. 7th Congressional District to replace Rep. Joe Sestak, try to pull a rabbit out of his hat:

The circulators of Schneller's third-party nominating papers, which he filed Monday in Harrisburg, are practically a who's-who of Delaware County Democrats. They include:

* Swarthmore Democratic Party leader Colleen Guiney, whom Lentz has previously described as "the hardest worker on my campaign."

* Richard Cairns, Lentz's neighbor, who helped clear the Democratic primary field for Lentz by challenging the nominating petitions filed by two other candidates.

* Abu Rahman, president of the Delco Asian American Democratic Association; Julie Klein, a Democrat who has helped raise money for Lentz, and Arthur Manos, a Democratic union representative with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 152, who has supported Lentz.

It saddens me to read this. I've been a big fan of Lentz -- an Iraq War vet who's done a good job in Harrisburg -- while I happen to think his opponent Pat Meehan is probably the most overrated politician in the Delaware Valley, a career hack whose enthusiasm for going after political corruption came to a complete stop at the border with Delaware County and his GOP machine friends.

Having said all that, this is a disappointing and ultimately kind of stupid move by Lentz supporters, whether or not it was done with the candidate's knowledge. These political tricks are always found out, and typically do more harm than good, because they reveal you to be....just another politician. And voters won't stand for that now, not in 2010.