Before we move forward, let’s look back.
We want to be sure that we do not miss a beat when it comes to political news in Northeast Pennsylvania, but how do we cover the ground we’ve already missed? Well, we are going to be taking a look back at the past and see the state of the different races impacting NEPA though polls, announcements, tweets, and everything else we can get our hands on.
Let’s get started with PA’s gubernatorial race.
As of December 14, State Attorney General Tom Corbett was winning all matchups against his four possible Democratic challengers.
A Rasmussen Reports Poll found Corbett’s biggest challenge in State Auditor General Jack Wagner, who lost to Corbett in a matchup 43% to 30%. The same poll found Corbett’s next best challenger to be Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, who lost 44% to 28%. Former Congressman Joe Hoeffel gains 26% of a hypothetical vote to Corberr’s 48%. Our very own NEPA Mayor Chris Doherty, of Scranton, had the worst performance against Corbett. Doherty took 23% of a hypothetical vote to Corbett’s 46%.
With the race still months away and such a wide field of candidates, the race is still up in the air.
However, Corbett’s chances of being the Republican nominee increased when Rep. Jim Gerlach, who serves PA’s 6th Congressional District, dropped out of the Republican primary earlier this month and chose to run for reelection.
“Less than 24 hours ago, I announced that I was ending my campaign to become Pennsylvania’s next governor and would continue working hard each day serving the public,” Gerlach said on his website. “Almost immediately, hundreds of concerned constituents and long-time supporters made phone calls and sent e-mails urging me to consider running for Congress again and offering to help in any way they could to keep me in this seat.”
Pennsylvania is arguably one of the most interesting races heading into the 2010 election. Most political analysts are saying PA can go to either party.
Much of the uncertainty stems from the lengthy fight over the proposed health care legislation and the current political climate in the U.S.
Check back Wednesday for a recap of PA’s 2010 Senate race.
