Comments on: Analyzing Swing States: Pennsylvania, Part 5

By: Ron Thompson

Ron Thompson — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 04:05:10 +0000

That’s a noble and praiseworthy sentiment.
But if you look at what has actually succeeded in American politics in the last 40 years, it isn’t a party that appeals to everybody. The Republicans have dominated American politics by building a cohesive party that sometimes gets a small majority, and then they ram through their program while some Democrats, who try to appeal to everybody, give them crucial support. By attempting to appeal to everybody, we’ve made a mess of health care reform. I find the modern Republican Party uteerly repugnant, but I’ll say this for them–they understand power: how to get it and how to use it. I wish the Democrats could learn to do the same. But it’s hard, because we want so desperately to appeal to everybody.

By: Brett Heffner

Brett Heffner — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:08:10 +0000

If there are four counties that don’t belong to this geopolitical entity of “Pennsyltucky,” they are Berks, Lehigh, Monroe, and Northampton. Obama carried all by at least 9% margins and the demographic changes show that Philadelphia has no right to claim them, yet nor did they belong to such a political invention as “Pennsyltucky.” It seems like these counties (other than Monroe) can be owned or disowned as aligned according to the whims of political expediency by the Philadelphia machine political bosses (such as Marcel Groen and Bob Brady.)

By: inoljt

inoljt — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:03:36 +0000

Yeah, I do think the Lehigh Valley constitutes an important part of the Democratic coalition – and I’m confident Obama will carry it in 2012 (provided the economy recovers).

I somewhat neglected it here; its importance is certainly more than the brief mention implied in my posts.

Thanks for commentating!

By: Brett Heffner

Brett Heffner — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:43:37 +0000

I am a lifelong resident of Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley is a distinct region of its own as well as the third-largest metro area in the Commonwealth. Actually, more people are moving west into it from northern New Jersey and NYC than north from the Philadelphia region. When Bill Clinton carried Lehigh County in 1992, it was the first time since LBJ for a Democrat and Lehigh hasn’t looked back. Obama carried it by over a 15% margin. The four counties going for Obama for the first time since LBJ are Berks, Chester, Dauphin, and Monroe (which Kerry only lost by four votes.) If Obama wins re-election, he carries Lehigh, Monroe, and Northampton by significant margins and at least comes very close in Berks and Carbon.

By: muscle relaxer

muscle relaxer — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:58:34 +0000

You need think about it. Despite the emails, the overwhelming evidence showing global warming is happening hasn’t changed.
“The e-mails do nothing to undermine the very strong scientific consensus . . . that tells us the Earth is warming, that warming is largely a result of human activity,” Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a House committee. She said that the e-mails don’t cover data from NOAA and NASA, whose independent climate records show dramatic warming.