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Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Lehigh Valley Election Summary

Photobucket - Video and Image HostingYesterday and in the past, I've provided you with an analysis for every contested race in the Lehigh Valley. Now as most of you know, I'm an idiot. Whether I like a candidate has little to do with how you should vote. But what I've tried to do is provide links to other sources so that you can check them out and decide for yourself.

As a last minute guide, here's a list of the contested races with a link to each post.

Governor's race: Governor Comeback Rendell will crush "Outsider" Lynn Swann.

U.S. Senate race: Bob Casey will convincingly defeat Rick Santorum.

15th U.S. Congressional District: Dent will easily retain his seat.

18th Pa. Senatorial District: Although Lisa Boscola and Bonnie Dodge are both strong women, Lisa will crush Bonnie.

16th Pa. Senatorial District: I like Rick Orloski, but Pat Browne will keep his seat.

24th Pa. Senatorial District: Rob Wunderling will trounce his Democratic opponent, who is invisible.

131st Legislative District: Minger Upset in 131st? Incumbent Beyer Dishing Out the Dirt

132d Legislative District: Mann Will Retain Her State House Seat, But is She Democrat or Republican?

133rd Legislative District: Joe Brennan in the 133rd: Why Not the Best?

134th Legislative District: Act Blue for the Other Casey, Blue Collar Casey.

183rd Legislative District: Harhart or Upstart? Act Blue for Russ Shade in 183rd.

187th Legislative District: Follweiler - Fresh Air in 187th Legislative District.

LEHIGH COUNTY ORDINANCE 2006-155: "Shall the Lehigh County Home Rule Charter be amended to abolish the elected offices of the Clerk of Courts, the Recorder of Deeds and the Register of Wills, and to consolidate the functions of those offices into one elected office to be known as the Clerk of Judicial Records?" Lehigh County's Superclerk of Judicial Records? Get Real. Lehigh County Comm'r Grammes is Kryptonite to SuperClerk Proposal.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bernie,

Heard you on the Ron Angle radio program yesterday morning. How can you justify voting for Charlie Dent when you admit that the guy doesn't vote, for the most part, in a manner that you find acceptable or correct?

As a responsible citizen you should simply not cast a ballot for any seat you find all the candidates to be unacceptable.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 9:05, I still haven't cast my vote. Here's my dilemna. 1) Browne is totally unacceptable because I don't think her campaign has been honest, although I am closest to her philospohically. 2) I really like Dertinger, and I'm closer to him philosophically than I am to Dent. But his statement about being "draggged" into the race turned me off. And when he went head to head against Dent in Pen Argyl, I was astonished by his poor performance and he actually got petty and made some nasty statements about Dent reading off answers. That was clearly untrue. 3) That leaves Dent, whom I agree with the least. But he is not the archconservative he's been painted to be. He is actually fairly open-minded, too. I don't think he differs from most Pennsylvania Dems when you come right down to it. And I think his efforts at alternative fuel sources are quite sincere. So I intend to vote for him, although it's a really close question. He's the only R who will get my vote. Persduade me if I'm wrong. I won't be voting for a few hours.

Anonymous said...

I think you should write in Ron Angle

Bernie O'Hare said...

For Congress? I love Ron, but not in that way.

Bernie O'Hare said...

The eye of Mordor is upon poor Rick now.

RadCenter said...

I had a horrible thought this morning. What if, by helping to defeat Rick Santorum today, I merely give him more free time to organize his 2008 presidential campaign?

Not that this thought changed my vote, but it did give me a shudder. Santorum may not be able to win in PA, but he would carry most of the red states if given the chance.

Anonymous said...

Bernie, this is anon 9:05. I assume I am too late to change your vote but here are the things that mand Dent no choice:

#1 -a 7% rating on the environment (Tricky Rick even rated 10%). Sure he wants a tram up to the Lafayette campus, but he is not enviro-friendly.

#2 - Social Security: he has never come out and said that he would protect the system, or even try to protect the system. As a young (30-something) person I do not feel obligated to pay for someone else's SS and then not have that safety net for my retirement. The Dent supporter at my poling station told me that the impression he has is that when push come to shove, Dent would vote for privitization. Read up on what the 1930s looked like and that is what we would be heading for in the futue if SS is brought private.

#3 - Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) - Dent would vote to make the "Bush tax cuts" permanent but has no stand on the AMT. (Funny how he never seems to have a stand on anything, but he is a carrer politician, right?) IF you want real tax reform that helps the middle and upper middle class, elimination of the AMT would do the trick. There would be the need to get that revenue from somewhere else (elimnate the Bush tax cut for the ultra wealthy) but it would achieve tax savings for those in the middle.

I know Dertinger is no prize, and it is hard to imagine a Joe Long candidate winning any election, Dent is not the answer.

FYI - I wrote in "none of the above" for US Senate.

Bernie O'Hare said...

All your points make sense. I don't dislike Dertinger. I did at first but had warmed up. That Pen Argyl debate really got to me, and Dent himself is really charming. Personally, I think he stuck some frickin' chemical in one of my drinks bc I really like the guy even though I agree w/ everyone of your reasons for giving the other CD your vote.