The LuLac Edition #280, August 7th, 2007
PHOTO INDEX: SENATOR ROBERT MELLOW AND FORMER U.S. SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS.
MELLOW? HELLO!!!!
Robert Mellow wants to run for Governor. He's thinking about it and has a $700,000 war chest. Mellow has been making the rounds and will tell anyone who will listen that he might want to run in 2010. Mellow has formed an exploratory committee to prepare to run for governor, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Lackawanna County Democrat has been talking with influential Democrats about the 2010 race, has about $700,000 in his Senate campaign account and plans a fundraiser in the fall.
"I'm more than just interested; I'm focusing on it," Mellow told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "I've always had a strong desire to be governor."
The last state legislator to be elected governor was George M. Leader, a state senator from York County, in 1954. But Mellow, who has political contacts around the state, said he considered his 30-year legislative career a plus.
"I probably know state government as well as anyone else," Mellow said.
Others considering a run for the Democratic nomination include Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato; state Auditor General Jack Wagner, a former state senator from western Pennsylvania; former Ltn. Governor Mark Singel of Johnstown, Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty, and Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham, a former state cabinet member.
Mellow faces four problems:
1. The election cycle. Democrat Ed Rendell, by 2010 will be in office for eight years. Since 1946, Republicans and Democrats have been turning over the Governor's office every eight years. The next cycle will be presumabely a GOP turn. In only one election, 1982, did a Democrat have a fighting chance, when former Congressman Allan Ertel almost beat incumbent Dick Thornburgh during the Reagan recession. So his timing may not be great.
2. Mellow has been one of the archetects and staunch defenders of the pay grab. True, five years will have passed since Mellow said "get a life" to a voter who challenged him on the issue. There is baggage on this issue and many taxpayer advocates are kicking themselves for not fielding an oppnent against him in 2006, allowing him a free ride for a 9th, you got it, 9th term. Mellow has been in office 36 years, longer than many of his constituents.
3. People will wonder about some mysterious Bob Mellow incidents like the time he showed up at a Senate committee bandaged on his face from "a fall". Will people outside of his safe district find him engaging, charismatic and more importantly truthful? It all boils down to statewide electability and recognition.
4. And finally, if you knew anything about the career of George Leader, elected Governor in 1954 at the age of 36, you'll know that Bob Mellow is no George Leader!
CASEY ABROAD
Senator Robert Casey has gone on a foreign trip with Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin. Casey's recognition in this matter tells us that he is considered a "comer" by the Senate Leadership.
THE DEM DEBATE
Watching and listening to the Dem debate, I come away with the feeling that the Dems have an embarassment of riches in quality. Even the middle tier candidates, Biden, and Dodd are setting off the Labor crowd with their oratorical fireworks.
EDWARDS VISIT
In January, Presidential contender John Edwards came into a home in Luzerne County on an energy saving mission. We thought you'd be interested in the video from his visit. Here's the link:
posted by David Yonki @ 7:55 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Yonki:
Mellow voted for the payraise. He thumbed his nose at all of us. Let him run, he'll be as effective in his run as the two Ernies, Preate and Kline!
Here's one for you. A well-placed and longtime Harrisburg connection has his money in CBK for the D nomination for guv. Nuts? Uhh, I don't think so, he makes a compelling case for her.
She has the ability to raise enormous amounts of money, and folks out west love her dearly. Should she outspend Bobby on TV buys, it could happen.
CBK's son is a lobbiest for Sun Oil, incredibly well-connected to all kind of money.
Most think of CBK as old and in the way, but watch her. She despises Rendell, she and Mellow have been openly hostile to one another, and she would like nothing better than to stick it to the D establishment here in PA.
I can say one thing for sure; even at her age, the fire to be governor burns hot within her. And that alone could do it.
Back to her relationship with Big Eddie. When he started posturing like he was going to dump her as his Lt. Gov. candidate, she told him should he do so, she'd run against him in the primary as an independent, thereby either beating Rendell, or splitting the vote such that it would deny him re-election.
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