Two sources tell PhillyClout that local attorney Dan McCaffery plans to drop out of the April 24 Democratic primary election for state Attorney General. Members of the Democratic City Committee in Philadelphia have been told not to circulate nominating petitions to get McCaffery on the ballot because an announcement is coming soon.
McCaffery, with the backing of U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, the chairman of the Democratic City Committee, and John Dougherty, leader of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, sought the state party endorsement in a meeting in State College on Jan. 14. He won 99 votes while former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy won 161 votes and former Lackawanna County Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Kane won 58 votes. None of them won the required two-thirds majority needed to secure the nomination.
Political veterans speculated that McCaffery and Murphy, two Irish guys from Southeastern Pennsylvania with familiar names -- Murphy for his time in Congress, McCaffery for his 2009 bid for District Attorney -- would split the Democratic vote in this region. That would have been very good news for Kane in a three-way race.