A few final primary points
Baer Growls IN THE AFTERMATH of yet another low-low-voter-turnout election - the lowest of the last four open-seat primary races for mayor and, according to the Inky, even lower in the burbs - a few things beyond general disinterest strike me.
Baer Growls
IN THE AFTERMATH of yet another low-low-voter-turnout election - the lowest of the last four open-seat primary races for mayor and, according to the Inky, even lower in the burbs - a few things beyond general disinterest strike me.
* KANE, KANE, KANE: With the state's political and legal community fixated on what happens and when to the case of Kathleen Kane, the Montco electorate just might have given the issue a little push.
That's because Montco D.A. Risa Vetri Ferman, a Republican who cross-filed for county judge, won her party's nomination for one of three open spots on the county bench but did not win the Democratic nomination.
If she had won both nominations (and not to suggest that any prosecutor ever allows politics into any decision), some say that Ferman would be free of possible political fallout impacting her judicial run if she criminally charges Kane (or not) in connection with that grand-jury mess over alleged leaks.
* RUN LIKE A WOLF: More than a few folks note that Jim Kenney's campaign for Philly mayor had elements of Tom Wolf's campaign for governor.
Both men were first on TV in a crowded primary field. Both used Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg (who also worked for Bill de Blasio in New York and Rahm Emanuel in Chicago) to help frame and brand the candidates as likable guys with broad appeal to multiple constituencies. And both won in largely unexpected landslides. No doubt future candidates are taking notes.
* O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU: Not sayin' one particular judicial race was more important to some people than the mayor's race, but Supreme Court Justice candidate Kevin (brother of "Johnny Doc") Dougherty got 11,300 more votes than Jim Kenney.
Also, the "bullet ballot" clearly was in play. The court race had six candidates for three spots but nobody came close to Dougherty totals, meaning lots of folks voted for one candidate instead of three. The closest vote total to Dougherty's in the race was Anne Lazarus' - in Philly she finished more than 58,700 votes behind him.
- John Baer