They're slinging mud and magnets in Delco Senate race

YOU SEE what happens?

This is what happens when a state senator retires in the Philadelphia suburbs.

The Delaware County-based 26th District has become a battlefield for one of the state's nastiest down-ballot races, with Republican Tom McGarrigle and Democrat John Kane seeking to replace outgoing Republican state Sen. Edwin "Ted" Erickson.

Democrats have been eyeing the district since Erickson, an affable former biology professor, announced last year that he was not seeking re-election. Party leaders hope to take control of the state Senate, where the GOP holds a four-seat majority.

But the race between McGarrigle, chairman of the Delaware County Council, and Kane, business manager of Plumbers Local 690, has grown increasingly ugly since Labor Day.

Attack ads and recriminations. Philly union bosses caught in the cross-fire. The debate over a debate that ain't happening. Also: controversial magnets.

Yes, magnets. Even those things that stick to metal have become a sticking point in this race.

Last month, McGarrigle's campaign alleged that Kane was involved with union retaliation aimed at the husband of a woman who had appeared in a McGarrigle ad. But the woman's husband, a member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 654, quickly denied that the union's business manager had harassed him or threatened his job as a result of the ad, as McGarrigle's campaign initially claimed.

Two weeks later, the state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee questioned whether McGarrigle could "handle the responsibility" of holding public office after it discovered that 3.75-inch-by-7.5-inch "Tom McGarrigle for Senate" magnets did not include a required disclaimer about who paid for them. The SDCC filed an election-code complaint with the Pennsylvania Department of State that the Delaware County Daily Times said "may have set a new standard for faux outrage."

Then, a week later, IBEW Local 98 business manager John Dougherty called Delaware County Republicans "cheap political hacks" after McGarrigle began running an ad tying Kane to Joe Dougherty, the former longtime head of Ironworkers Local 401 who has been indicted in a racketeering-conspiracy case.

The McGarrigle ad blasts Kane for refusing to return campaign cash from Joe Dougherty. But, Kane points out, the money came from the Ironworkers' political-action committee, which is funded by union members, not by Joe Dougherty personally.

The dispute could jeopardize a significant funding source for the Delaware County GOP, which runs the county government and has received $1.8 million from the building trades in the past two election cycles alone, according to the IBEW's John Dougherty.

"Now, that will change," John Doughterty said, vowing to use labor money to challenge the Delco GOP "for years to come."

"I'm extremely upset with the fact that they did this, to me and to my family," Kane said of the attack ad.

But McGarrigle said this week that he isn't backing down.

"Joe Dougherty runs that union. He's in charge of that PAC. It's truthful and the ad is effective," he said.

McGarrigle's most recent internal poll, conducted last week by Susquehanna Polling & Research, puts him ahead of Kane by 9 points. A Kane spokesman would not release numbers, but said their own polling "shows that we have a clear path to victory."

Pennsylvania pollster G. Terry Madonna, who hasn't conducted any polling in the 26th District, said it appears that McGarrigle has at least a "slight edge" in the district, where Republicans hold a voter-registration advantage.

"I would not want to make a prediction on it," Madonna said. "We always get at least one surprise."