The Green Party of Pennsylvania announced that it had filed 100,000 signatures to place Carl Romanelli on the ballot alongside incumbent Republican Rick Santorum and Democrat Bob Casey.
Among other things, Romanelli is pro-choice, favors universal health care, advocates an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, equal marriage rights, and the elimination of pension benefits for members of Congress.
News reports say that Santorum and his Republican pals ponied up most of the $100,000 that Romanelli and the Greens spent to collect the required signatures. The Casey campaign is whining about that tactic and the Santorum camp is issuing "no comments" on it.
Many liberals in Pennsylvania are simply pissed off that the Party greased the slide for the Casey nomination on Rendell's recommendation to Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. Polls show a small backlash, of about 3-5% who may not vote in this election because they do not want to support a pro-war, anti-choice Democrat. Santorum, flagging in the polls for over a year, has been humoring Romanelli and encouraged his supporters to help get the Green Party on the ballot. Like Nader before him, Romanelli will draw nearly all of his support away from Casey. Santorum is obviously hoping to squeak in with a plurality.
It's doubtful that the Greens can draw that much, but they already have 100,000 votes (presumably) and this election, for all of its national hype, may not be that well attended. Certainly, Romanelli is hot to take Santorum up on the 10-debate demand. Santorum is already on the record that Romanelli should get full participation in the debates. It will be interesting to see if Santorum agrees to debate Romanelli one-on-one if they can't get Casey to commit. We also wonder if Santorum is going to insist that Meet the Press invite Romanelli to join Casey and Santorum on September 3, when they are achedule for a joint appearance (Russert calls them "debates").
Casey ran from five of the primary debates, showing up only for two in the most remote locals he could snag. Sandals and Pennacchio debated each other while Casey ran off to fundraise in California, Texas, and Chicago. Of course, that was after Santorum's Republican friends (without Santorum protesting in the least) bounced a moderate Republican challenger off the primary ballot to give Santorum the nomination unopposed. Romanelli is expecting to receive similar treatment from the Democrats. In the Green Party press release announcing the filings, Romanelli said,
Among other things, Romanelli is pro-choice, favors universal health care, advocates an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, equal marriage rights, and the elimination of pension benefits for members of Congress.
News reports say that Santorum and his Republican pals ponied up most of the $100,000 that Romanelli and the Greens spent to collect the required signatures. The Casey campaign is whining about that tactic and the Santorum camp is issuing "no comments" on it.
Many liberals in Pennsylvania are simply pissed off that the Party greased the slide for the Casey nomination on Rendell's recommendation to Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. Polls show a small backlash, of about 3-5% who may not vote in this election because they do not want to support a pro-war, anti-choice Democrat. Santorum, flagging in the polls for over a year, has been humoring Romanelli and encouraged his supporters to help get the Green Party on the ballot. Like Nader before him, Romanelli will draw nearly all of his support away from Casey. Santorum is obviously hoping to squeak in with a plurality.
It's doubtful that the Greens can draw that much, but they already have 100,000 votes (presumably) and this election, for all of its national hype, may not be that well attended. Certainly, Romanelli is hot to take Santorum up on the 10-debate demand. Santorum is already on the record that Romanelli should get full participation in the debates. It will be interesting to see if Santorum agrees to debate Romanelli one-on-one if they can't get Casey to commit. We also wonder if Santorum is going to insist that Meet the Press invite Romanelli to join Casey and Santorum on September 3, when they are achedule for a joint appearance (Russert calls them "debates").
Casey ran from five of the primary debates, showing up only for two in the most remote locals he could snag. Sandals and Pennacchio debated each other while Casey ran off to fundraise in California, Texas, and Chicago. Of course, that was after Santorum's Republican friends (without Santorum protesting in the least) bounced a moderate Republican challenger off the primary ballot to give Santorum the nomination unopposed. Romanelli is expecting to receive similar treatment from the Democrats. In the Green Party press release announcing the filings, Romanelli said,
"The Democratic Party seems to show an aversion to political competition. Greens want the ballot in the hands of the voters, not the Democratic Party machine. Their lawyers will now look for any technicality to subvert the will of our signators."Casey's campaign has been mum (there's a shocker) on this issue. Time will tell. Challenges must be filed by August 8.
2 comments:
Suddenly you liberals aren't for letting the voters cast their ballot.
You want to silence the guy for having his say!? Perhaps he'll draw away from Santorum? Though unlikely...
Umm, you assume too much, Rick. I think you'll need to re-read the post becaue I never said a word about whether Romanelli should be on the ballot.
Indeed, you might want to read the full prior post where I concluded with this:
"That said, if Carl Romanelli does manage to score the necessary signatures, Casey should welcome him to the campaign and the debates. Not because Santorum pretends that he thinks that is the right thing to do, but because it really is the right thing to do."
THAT having been said (again) it is not defensible what Santorum has done -- it is akin to a baseball team with nothing to gain, putting the third string out there in a game where the other team's win means something to the postseason. Such things infect the integrity of the process.
Frankly, I would be hopping up and down a whole lot more if the process through which Romanelli was compelled to pass was not so damned unfair already.
But that doesn't excuse Your Rick and I don't at all find cute his wink wink non-denial of his culpability.
AND if the Casey folk are right -- that there might be something legally inappropriate about the way that Santorum raised money for Romanelli's efforts -- I'd want to see a full investigation and appropriate penalities.
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