Lehigh County Voters Say No to Extremism

Tom Muller's wife, MJ, can finally sleep. 

Though I was off the mark in Northampton County, I hit a bull's eye in Lehigh. That's good, not for me, not even for Executive-elect Tom Muller, but for the people of Lehigh County. Their vote was a vote against the extremism represented by Scott Ott and his so-called reform team. In fact, one of them, Mike Schware, went down in flames, too. How did this happen?

1) Turnout. - In contrast to Northampton County, Muller campaign manager Mike Fleck took no chances on turnout. He knew that he had to do what he could to drive out turnout in heavily Democrat West Bethlehem and Allentown, and concentrated resources on getting out the vote. It worked. It's too bad that effort was not made in the rest of Bethlehem. Ott's team made no effort to drive the turnout among tea party voters in Lowhill, Lynn and North Whitehall Townships.

2) Real Differences. - Scott Ott's divisive approach to governance includes spurning federal grants to benefit low-income communities. He actually argued against accepting a grant for Meals on Wheels. He promised voters he would cut spending, then increased it. He claimed that a 16% tax hike two years ago was irresponsible, but slipped in a 3.4% tax hike in next year's budget. Some voters are angry at Ott over the reassessment. He refused to speak to the media. He alienated voters at a NAACP debate.  Muller, who has never run for office and was himself a Republican, was so appalled by Ott's brinksmanship that he switched parties and ran himself.

Though 100% of the votes are in, and Muller has a 1,500 vote lead, Ott  only conceded just a few minutes ago. This is the kind of pig-headedness that makes Ott look silly.

Kinda' like Scrappleface.

3) The Wes Barrett Factor. - Emmaus Council member Wes Barrett was so upset by proposed CDBG cuts that he decided to take on Mike Schware, an appointed Commissioner who never actually won an election. Barrett nearly defeated Schware in an area that should have gone to Ott.

4) County Party GOTV. - In addition to Mike Fleck managing Muller's campaign, he could also county on the partyto put on the best ground game they've ever had in a county race. That's thanks to people like Bar Johnston, who was everywhere on the southern end of the County. GOP party boss Wayne Woodman did a radio interview ... in Pittsburgh.

5) Republican Dissatisfaction with Ott.- In Lower Milford today, Republicans in line at the polls began arguing with each other. The tea party types may like Ott, but more mainstream Republicans are turned off by his approach. Their voices were finally heard.

Though Lehigh is much more conservative than Northampton County, they've elected a Democrat while Northampton picked a Republican.

Congrats to Tom Muller, who refers to me as the pseudo press. I'm not sure what Ott calls me, and don't really care.