The LuLac Edition #24, June 6, 2006

GORE SAYS NO.................FOR NOW. Former Vice President Al Gore ruled out a Presidential bid for 2008. But others in the Democratic party still feel he can be a formidable opponent. No less an authority than Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware told "Meet The Press" on Sunday that Gore would be an excellent candidate for the Presidency. Biden, by the way, wants to run in '08 too. There is a "Draft Gore" website. Anyone interested can join the DRAFT GORE movement. Here's the link: http://www.draftgore.com/, or http://www.draftgore.com/l.htm.

NEWS OF THE DAY…………Former Senator Max Cleland stumped for Democratic candidate Chris Carney this weekend. Cleland was in town to raise money for the Democratic challenger to Don Sherwood. Cleland slammed Sherwood’s integrity and urged voters to make the case for Carney who some political observers believe has a fighting chance to unseat Sherwood.

Rick Santorum’s campaign keeps on getting worse news everyday. Right after Santorum stumped with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in Dunmore on the issue of a lack of OB-GYNs, a published report in the Times disputes the Senator’s assertion that there is a crisis. A spokesman for one of the local hospitals used the term “plethora” to describe the medical shortage situation he was describing.
On the opinion poll front, it was reported by WILK news that Santorum is now down 20 points to challenger Robert P. Casey, Jr. The Santorum campaign also started running ads on Monday on the immigration issue. Santorum linked “Bobby” Casey with all the other liberals in the Senate who voted for the bill while he voted against it. Those others were Bill Frist, Arlen Specter and John McCain. This is the same bill Santorum talked about last week on WILK Radio citing President Bush’s support of it as “wrong headed”.

Here is Santorum's complete statement on the Immigration Bill voted on by the Senate:

Recently, the U.S. Senate voted on a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Although I agree that congressional attention to this issue is appropriate and overdue, I could not support this bill for a number of reasons. It contains a broad amnesty program for most illegal immigrants, will increase financial burdens on honest tax-paying American citizens, and provides incentives for illegal immigrants to raid the Social Security system and lie about their work history. This bill rewards illegal behavior, threatens our social welfare system, devalues the legal immigration process, and provides amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants. I could not, in good conscience, support such a bill, and it is my hope that the House of Representatives feels the same way.

There will be some unopposed races in the fall despite the big uproar over the payraise. Here’s a list:

14th Senatorial District: Democrat, Raphael J. Musto: The 77 year old veteran lawmaker is going for his 7th term in the Senate. He replaced former State Senate Pro Tem Martin L. Murray after serving as Congressman in 1980. He replaced Dan Flood in a special election but was defeated by Jim Nelligan in the Reagan landslide.

22nd Senatorial District: Democrat, 22nd Senatorial District: Robert J. Mellow: He is of course the guy who told a taxpayer to “get a life” when said taxpayer questioned him on the payraise issue. Thought to have opposition in the primary, that faded on the day of the filing deadline.

With the defeats of State Republican leaders Robert Jubilier and David Brightbill, there is conjecture that perhaps both Musto and Mellow might have faced serious primary challenges. But none came. It will be interesting to see if anyone mounts a serious write in campaign to defeat the two veteran lawmakers. The new voting machines make the process easier but whether a serious effort would be undertaken is still an open question.

114th Legislative District: Democrat, Jim Wansacz*. Wansacz also won a Republican write-in nomination.
115th Legislative District: Democrat, Edward G. Staback*.

COMING UP: THE INFLULENCE OF TALK RADIO ON THE POLITICAL PROCESS.