Bob Casey Jr.: The Son Of Bob Casey Sr.!

Philadelphia Will Do continues its series today on Penn’s Stephen Morse — he gets his own category now! If you’re unfamiliar with Morse, he’s the one who chastized black people for not being as good as Jews as well as the greatest architecture critic on the East Coast,

Oh, he’s also the knower of all truth and muckraker. Today he reports on Bob Casey, and whines that, well, Casey wouldn’t let him bypass the press conference and ask him questions outside before an event at Penn. Then, after criticizing the other “journalists” for submitting to a “press conference” — as if any respectable journalist would do such a thing! — and drops this more-exclusive-than-anything-on-Phawker report:

Very few people know that Bob Casey describes himself as a “pro-life” candidate.

Tune in next week for a scoop about how President Bush supports the War in Iraq!

Thanks for the elbow to the stomach! [DP's The Spin]

Relax, Only A Few More Days Of This

Next, he’s going to attack Casey for something he did in one of Santorum’s dreams.

Santorum Takes Casey to Task Over Kerry’s Comments [KYW 1060]

Adwatch: Bob Casey Is Pro-Little League

With a scant two weeks until the midterm elections, the airwaves are clogged with political advertisements. And, as a viewer with limited commercial-watching time, you may be wondering, “But what ads do I watch?” Most of them are hideous, but every once in a while there’s one that’s so over-the-top hilarious I can’t pull myself away.

That’s where this little new featured comes in. Every weekday now until election day, November 7, Philadelphia Will Do will be doing Adwatch, a feature where the best and brightest of television and radio campaign ads show up. Although not an official part of Adwatch (these distinctions must be made, natch), go take a listen to yesterday’s Newspaper Guild anti-Tierney advertisement and then follow past the jump for the first edition of Adwatch.

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Santorum Losing The YouTube Race, Too

That’s Stephen Colbert, of course, making fun of Rick Santorum’s comparison of the War in Iraq to Lord of the Rings. The best part of it, though, is that this version was uploaded by Bob Casey’s campaign.

But of course.

Colbert Comments On Santorum and Lord of the Rings [YouTube via Bob Casey for U.S. Senate]

Casey, Santorum Continue To Bore Their Way To Nov.

There was an extremely boring debate this morning between professional mime Bob Casey and noted perennial foot-in-his-mouth Senator Rick Santorum. (”Kim Jong Il just wants to watch NBA basketball!”) The KYW 1060 “Breakfast With the Candidates” wasn’t as snippy as the last Casey-Santorum debate, and was actually really quite bland.

However, Santorum continues to confuse everyone to no end. On charges that he had alienated some in the commonwealth, the senator replied (emphasis mine, obviously):

“I have a responsibility to be accountable, and you know when you go out to talk about the big issues of the day sometimes your going to make people mad when you hide from them, when you don’t tell their positions on the issues. My opponent said I was a ‘desperate candidate’ — I am desperate… I am not desperate, I’m exasperated what my opponent’s positions are.”

So… which one is he? Is he desperate or not desperate? Looks like Santorum’s flip flopping again.

Breakfast With the Candidates on KYW Newsradio [KYW 1060]
July 12: Look For The Harlem Globetrotters To Make An Appearance In P’yŏngyang Any Day Now

Leftovers: Tough Break

• Jevon Kearse, injured near the end of the Eagles’ loss to the Giants yesterday, is out for the year with a knee injury. Gee, yesterday’s game just keeps getting better and better. Tomorrow, the team’s going to announce that anthrax was accidentally released at the game and everyone needs to get tested. [Inquirer]

• Wireless Philadelphia has a pricetag! $21.95 a month. (The “Digital Inclusion” — read: poor — rate is $9.95.) The service hasn’t even started yet, and the rates have already gone up from the $20/month promoted when the city signed the deal. Capitalism sure is a hideous bitch goddess. [Civil Defense]

• In New Jersey, the state will no longer pick up deer carcasses, which means driving in Jersey just got about a million times more awesome. [AP/Camden Courier Post]

• Just after Chris Ferguson, the astronaut reared in Northeast Philly, leaves the space station, there’s a toxic spill. Coincidence? Yeah, most certainly. [Reuters/CNN.com]

• Hey, Bob Casey can talk!

Vote For The Duck! No! Vote For The Gorilla!

The race for Pennsylvania’s junior senate seat just keeps getting more and more exciting. (And by “exciting,” we mean “stupid.”)

While Rick Santorum is on TV proclaiming that a newspaper called him too liberal, and Bob Casey is, uh, in a secret underground bunker somewhere with duct tape over his mouth, interested parties are trying to sway the votes toward their candidate of choice.

The newest way to gain the public’s trust: Mascots.

Yes, that’s right. Rick Santorum has been sending a staffer in a duck costume to Casey events — because Casey “ducks” the issues, har de har har — for a while now, and a group that would like Casey to win is joining the fray with “Grandpa Gorilla.”

Grandpa Gorilla is an 11-foot inflatable gorilla that is supposed to show that Rick Santorum doesn’t care about old people, or at least Social Security. The DC-based group Americans United is angry that Santorum wanted to privatize Social Security.

So, basically, come November, you have a choice between a gorilla and a duck. Ain’t politics grand?

Monkey on Rick’s back [Daily News]

Dubya And The Greens, What A Combo

As we roll into crunch time in election season, campaigns are pulling out all the stops. In Pennsylvania’s Senate race, the Green party is using sneaky tactics and Republican money to attempt to get Carl Romanelli on the ballot.

In brief: Republicans are supporting Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli’s attempts to get on the ballot in the hopes it would take votes away from Bob Casey. The Democrats are challenging Romanelli’s petition — which needed 67,000+ signatures, because Republicans and Democrats can agree that they’d like to keep their stranglehold on politics, thank you very much — in the hopes he’ll get kicked off the ballot because of people signing “Mickey Mouse.”

Today, a letter writer in the Daily News attacks Casey’s camp for challenging the signatures thusly:

Sad case of Casey vs. Romanelli

IWAS ONE of the 100,000 Pennsylvanians who signed the “Romanelli petition” in an attempt to get him on the ballot for the November election, and I am revolted by Bob Casey’s efforts to block his candidacy.

I think it is appalling when the first real action of a Senate candidate is trying to remove another candidate from the ballot, as has been the case with Bob Casey Jr. Not only has Casey remained silent on the issues, but now attempts to silence another voice seeking to join in the democratic process.

One hundred thousand Pennsylvanians have signed petitions to get Mr. Romanelli on the ballot, and Casey would just as soon see that they are cheated out of their efforts. This is the move of a career politician and someone who does not have the best interests of Pennsylvanians in mind.

Edward Smith, Flourtown

Ahh, yes, Edward Smith of Flourtown. Who, after a quick search, appears to be the only Edward Smith in the phone book in Flourtown. And, who, after another quick search, appears to have donated to this presidential candidate in 2004 (take a wild guess):

I’m hope Mr. Romanelli isn’t counting on Ed Smith’s vote come November.

Sad case of Casey vs. Romanelli [Daily News]
Search: Edward Smith [Fundrace.org]
Santorum, the Green Party, and some very strange bedfellows [Attytood]
July 18: Honk if you like Cookies

The Political Machine, Bisexuals And Dead Kittens: It Must Be The Primary!

I’ll just come out and say it: Yesterday was the greatest primary in the history of Pennsylvania. I know, I’ve only been on this planet for 20-plus years, but I don’t think any other primary voting could have topped yesterday.

Consider:

• The two top Republicans in the Senate — Bob Jubelirer and Chip Brightbill — were trounced yesterday. They both voted for the pay raise, which was, essentially, the reason they lost in the primary. And they outspent their opponents by huge margins. I think government is probably going to waste money in one way or another, but it’s always kind of nice to see long-time incumbents knocked out of office. (Well, not nice for them.)

That’s not the reason this is so good, though. Brightbill was running against Mike Folmer, and the Daily News‘ John Baer describes the final days of the race as such:

It included a last-minute TV ad involving a woman with whom Folmer admitted having a decade-old affair - a woman who later sued Folmer, claiming bad financial advice.

It also involved a charge from the Folmer camp suggesting Brightbill supporters might have killed a kitten, Twister, owned by Folmer’s press aide.

Brightbill’s spokesman dismissed the suggestion, saying, “I can’t emphasize enough how much I love cats.”

You see, rest of the state? This is why Philadelphia hates you (and why, in turn, you hate us). Our politics are stupid, ridiculous, over-the-top and annoying, but we rarely, if ever, kill kittens or accuse people of doing so.

• Speaking of Philadelphia, the hotly contested 175th District — which had a three-way race and lots of fun arguing — went to Mike O’Brien, who defeated Anne Dicker and Terry Graboyes. Graboyes, who was backed by Ed Rendell and Vince Fumo, actually finished third behind the progressive, bisexual Dicker, a fave of men, women and bloggers. Naturally, Graboyes said went off with a “I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody”:

“If Anne Dicker hadn’t been there, I would have trampled,” she said. “And I will still never understand [why she ran]. Obviously it was more important to make her point than elect a progressive woman to the House.”

Oh, wah wah. Oh, and I couldn’t fit this in anywhere else, so I’m just going to throw it here: Voting for Dicker, who is bisexual (and married), is probably the closest most voters in the 175th will get to a threesome. (Rimshot.)

• The Democratic machine did possibly pull off an upset win in the 179th in North Philly, where the only candidate on the ballot (Tony Payton) might’ve lost to a write-in candidate (Emilio Vasquez), the fave of party leaders, who was knocked off when he failed to disclose his employer when filing his petitions. Sigh. Payton, naturally, is claiming people handing out stamps with Vasquez’ name, which is — surprise! — illegal. (Correction: It’s illegal if they’re handed out inside the polling place; legal if it’s 10 feet outside. But of course.)

• And, hey, Chuck Pennacchio lost, but he did beat Alan Sandals, who he was polling below (I think) prior to the primary. Of course, Bob Casey got 84 percent of the vote and will be taking on Rick Santorum in November.

Pennsylvania Election Results [AP/Philly.com]

Hey, It’s Election Day!

Hey, it is election day! And, depending on where you live, you might actually have a contested race in this primary. Since virtually every state legislator took the pay raise — the real tricky ones voted against it and then took it — the people have risen up! It’s democracy in action! Whoo!

Well, until they all get trounced today and we have the same state representatives we’ve always had. But, hey, at least none of our current lawmakers kick kittens. As far as I know.

There’s also a race for U.S. Senate, where state treasurer and noted mime Bob Casey faces a pair of upstart challengers that may, if they’re lucky, combine for about 10 percent of the vote. However, in early exit polling, Chuck Pennachio leads Casey and Alan Sandals 100 percent to 0. Of course, I only polled Albert Yee. It is raining today, so there’s a chance that only about 15 people will vote — which usually bodes well for underdogs.

The biggest things on the ballot today are, of course, the two referendums we citizens of Philadelphia are being asked. The first question is kind of the same thing as the question last year, i.e. ethics board and no “pay to play” and all that jazz. I don’t know why we need to be asked again, but, hey, whatever.

The other question concerns a proposal to put up cameras in “high-crime areas” so that the police might be able to catch criminals easier. As my only endorsement of this election, let me urge you to vote no on this. No, it’s not the Big Brother stylings of it — please, we’re filmed everywhere we go — it’s that I know very well that the City of Philadelphia will have these cameras and somehow screw things up. Come on. You know a crook will commit a crime right in front of a camera, and a raccoon will have eaten the tape or something, and it’ll be a mess.

Actually, that’d be kind of funny. Maybe you want to vote yes on that after all.

At Pa. polls, a moment of truth [Inky]