Northampton County Democrats conducted their annual "pulse of the primary" earlier this week at Seven Sirens Brewing. It is a mock election limited to people who pay for admission, so it is by no means representative of the party as whole. But the results do indicate who the worker bees favor.
The big winner was District Attorney Terry Houck. He pulled in 30 votes to just 3 for Steve Baratta. The 3 who voted for Baratta were obviously drunk. Baratta and his Republican handler, Ray Lahould, have attempted to steal Democratic votes by claiming that Houck is actually a Republican because he is attempting to end the race in May by asking Republicans to write him in. It appears that the Democratic committee members who work these campaigns know better.
Other big winners include Tara Zrinski, who garnered 22 votes to just 6 for Nadeem Qayyum.
In Easton, Panto pummeled Peter Melan. And the City Council winners were Kenny Brown, Frank Pintabone and Dave O'Connell.
I do not have the Bethlehem results.
28 comments:
No surprises with this poll. And it seems Baratta has already moved on from his claims that Houck is a Republican. His FB page is now running not one but two obvious tv ads on Baratta being the only candidate to protect women’s rights. Really? Scare tactics again? More misinformation as PA has never lost those rights, but just in case they do, Steve is the savior? He’s really delusional. He just goes from one lie to the next hoping one sticks. Sorry Stevie. We know Terry is a lifelong Democrat and we also heard him say he was pro choice. For Baratta to just make a whole commercial on yet more misinformation is just ridiculous. Mayor and controller results were no surprise. Please post additional results if you get them.
I hope Houck doesn’t take anything for granted. His mailers/phone calls are infrequent, which may prove detrimental. Too many voters cast a vote for the person whose name they remember, not necessarily the best candidate. And Lahoud is a Republican? Really couldn’t tell that when he was heckling Houck at the Nazareth debate.
The room was filled with LV4ALL dipshits - no doubt about it. Surprised they’d go to Seven Sirens since Seven Sirens goes against their woke, lemming-like ideology.
You keep singing Houck’s praises, but he’s going to need the AG to step in soon and take over that office. Two more female prosecutors left this week. One being the longest tenured female prosecutor in the office, and not even to another job, she just left!!!
Steve’s going to walk into an empty cupboard thanks to Terry.
Wouldn’t a DA prosecute the crime? How is it a scare tactic when he says he will support the right to choose and exercise discretion to protect women??? Out with Houck.
Bernie, what motivated Baratta to sully his distinguished career by being sent packing in such a spectacularly embarrassing fashion? He's really crapped all over himself with this debacle.
What about judge?
"What about judge?"
Not sure that they even had a ballot for judge bc Aaaroe has made no effort to attract Democrats. Her mailers have gone only to Rs. She apparently has written Dems off. Panella is trying to win both Dems and Rs.
"Bernie, what motivated Baratta to sully his distinguished career by being sent packing in such a spectacularly embarrassing fashion? He's really crapped all over himself with this debacle."
It's not what, but who. There is no doubt in my mind that Baratta is running bc he was encouraged to do so by Morganelli. If there was any doubt in my mind, it was erased when Boscola endorsed him.
"I hope Houck doesn’t take anything for granted. His mailers/phone calls are infrequent, which may prove detrimental. Too many voters cast a vote for the person whose name they remember, not necessarily the best candidate. And Lahoud is a Republican? Really couldn’t tell that when he was heckling Houck at the Nazareth debate."
I know that I am getting a mailer from Houck today, and believe there will be one or two more. You are right to suggest he can't take anything for granted. Ray has told me both. He has told me he was a Republican who switched back recently and has told me he is still a Republican. I found it odd that he was claiming that Houck had turned R when he himself can't seem to make up his mind where he belongs.
Lahoud is the George Soros of the Lehigh Valley.
Got damn Bern! Rich and Terry really got your brittle ole fingers working over time in this campaign. I hope they at least have had the decency to pay you enough to afford a new sweatsuit.
This poll should be a surprise to nobody at all.
LOLOLOLOL
I’d let Lahoud be my handler. That hottie can handle me any way he wants.
"The room was filled with LV4ALL dipshits - no doubt about it."
Probably was. You'd think these progressive Dems would want to be rid of Houck, who has been falsely presented as an R by Baratta. They know better.
So I'm assuming they decided to vote for the one guy that actually showed up to this stupid thing? OBVIOUSLY a 30 person sample size is a STRONG indication of how a county-wide election will result. Fuck Bernie, be better please.
I made clear in my first paragraph that this is by no means representative of the party as a whole. It represents only those who paid the admission fee. My guess is that they are the people who actually do most of the work. It is very telling that the party worker bees strongly endorse Houck. If Baratta was not there, why not? He as a no show at a bench bar dinner, no show at the Whitetail Deer Classic, no show at the LV Labor Council dinner and a no show here? This is an indication to me that he's getting bad advice on where to be and not be. People like to be asked for their vote. Sometimes, that's all you need to do. You can't win by running a campaign that is not just negative, but personal. That just turns everyone off, including the progressives he had hoped to woo. It's not working.
Steve is a very good guy and was a very good judge. He had a temper, but also had a heart. I'm sorry to see him in this position. Both Steve nd Terry are excellent lawyers and my hope is that they can reconcile once this is over. Steve has burned a few bridges.
Yes, I am rooting for Terry. He is a professional prosecutor who has dedicated his entire career to combatting crime. I am critical of Steve's campaign, but not Steve himself. He should never have listened to John Morganelli.
A note about the city council straw poll - Kurt Carlson was the only candidate who attended and after he spoke a number of individuals in attendance spoke very loudly about being disappointed the straw poll was completed before he had gone because they would have changed their votes after hearing him speak.
Baratta was not a well regarded judge. Why would anyone in Northampton County vote to make him their top law enforcement officer?
Are you dummies paying attention to areas that elect soft on crime District Attorneys?
What evidence, exactly, do you have that Morganelli is the impetus to Baratta running? Your conjecture is not evidence. Also if it is true, is there an argument to be made that the one who knows Terry the best, his former boss John Morganelli not endorse him as worthy to remain in that office. That is the horns of the dilemma to your continued reliance on this claim.
2:21, I do not have an admission from Morganelli, if that's what you mean. Had he made the mistake of admitting it, he would be removed from the bench bc he is required to refrain from involvement in partisan politics. But I do have evidence. Start with the last race. I know for a fact that he arranged for Nuria DiLuzio to run the last time around. This is in the form of an admission to a third party I decline to identify. Last time around, he brought his machine out to support her. That included Bob Donchez and a large number of Bethlehem Dems allied with him. McClure was ready to do so as well until we learned that DiLuzio is a Trumper.
These same people are now backing Baratta. The Boscola endorsement is more evidence. She is part of the Morganelli gang. Baratta's negative campaign is precisely what I'd expect from John, who routinely used Severson. Baratta had sour relations with a number of the judges and was not on speaking terms with them. This was Morgaelli's way of getting rid of a problem judge and moving up in seniority.
Another point is that Morganelli expects everything in his office to remain as it was when he was DA, and is unable to accept that Terry might have a different way of looking at things. For far too long, Morganelli resisted the regional crime center, which Terry has embraced. Morganelli opposed using the drug court for pretrial diversion, but Houck supports it. Morganelli refused to send an ADA to drug court, but Houck is doing so. Morganelli opposed a child advocacy center. Terry wants one. Morganelli wants no DAs engaged in private civil work while Houck encourages it on a part-time basis.
On top of everything else, it is simply in John's nature to be political. He loves Terry, but just is unable to help himself. Anyone who knows John knows that's just how he is. That's why I thought he should have remained a DA.
I do have one other piece of evidence but I decline to use it.
To be fair, John denies it every time I see him and says I should be nominatyed for a fiction writing award. But I know him too well. So do many others.
1:33, He does have an impressive background.
Isn’t tom Severson Houck’s Republican Hack?
@7:07 SHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Tom is retired but is consulting with Panto. I do not know whether he's also giving advice to Houck or Baratta. Houck's campaign is being managed by Patti Bruno, and Baratta's is being managed by Leo Rooney.
All I want to know is: who is a baby-killer, and who is for protecting innocent life?
Headline: Houck Crushes Baratta in Straw Poll
Contents of article: Terry Houck gets 30 people who are all either related to him or working for his campaign to write his name on a piece of paper inside a brewery that's owned by staunch Trump supporting Republicans...and Baratta still stole 3 votes from Houck's own supporters!
Mix in a water Bernie, obviously you're the one who is drunk!
A straw poll with 30 votes at Seven Sirens? What a joke.
What Democrat would ever set foot in that MAGA-owned establishment? Shame on the local Dems for this oversight.
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