U.S. Senate: Joe Sestak

This race pits Sestak (currently in the U.S. Congress after a long Navy career) against Arlen Specter, long-time Pennsylvania Republican Senator who switched to the Democratic party a year ago when he realized he would lose the Republican primary. There are good arguments to be made for each candidate. However, we feel that Sestak’s stance on the issues is more in line with those that we look for, particularly on women’s and civil rights and the environment (we found this "scorecard" particularly insightful), while Specter’s recent positions on important issues (once he knew he’d need to win a Democratic primary to get re-elected) don’t quite outweigh a long career of being on the wrong side as often as not (and leaving us a legacy of Supreme Court justices like Clarence Thomas and a wealth of Bush-era legislation). Many have put forth an “electability” argument, i.e., that Specter has a better chance of beating the (terrible) Pat Toomey in the fall, but we believe that if Sestak wins the primary, he will have proven his ability to compete state-wide, and his military and legislative experience should have a strong appeal to Pennsylvania moderates.

PA Governor: Joe Hoeffel

Hoeffel, a current Montgomery County commissioner and a former U.S. Congressman and state legislator is smart, hard-working, and seems incorruptible, and he’s the only true liberal in the race, with a clear separation from the other three in his pro-choice views among others. As of the latest polls, he’s a viable candidate, despite his relatively poor fundraising. Dan Onorato, Allegheny County Executive, is probably the front-runner, with lots of money and the support of Ed Rendell and other statewide political forces. He’s running on the platform of jobs creation (based on Pittsburgh’s economic revival) and some argue that his geographical base is a strategic advantage against the likely Republican nominee Tom Corbett. We worry more that his conservative inclinations would come to the fore once he took office. Anthony Williams, a Philadelphia state senator, is sort of a wild-card, building a campaign around education reform, including promotion of vouchers and charter schools. In our ward meeting, he came across as a straight shooter and problem-solver, although it makes us a little nervous that the bulk of his financial support comes from a small number of right-wing school-voucher advocates. We were not so impressed by Jack Wagner in his appearance at our ward meeting, but his experience (Pittsburgh City Council and current state auditor general) is certainly sufficient (and he did get the Inquirer endorsement). On net, we recommend Hoeffel within this field, though we’d be comfortable supporting any of the four in November.

PA Lieutenant Governer: Jonathan Saidel

We honestly don't know much about this race, though we have a positive impression of Saidel (a Philadelphia City controller for 16 years) and he seems to have a solid slate of endorsements and successful fundraising.

U.S. Congress: Bob Brady

Brady lives a charmed life; he has no opposition in this primary, nor apparently a Republican challenger in the general election!

PA General Assembly: Babette Josephs

Josephs is right on the issues and has clout due to her seniority (potentially heading the effort on post-census redistricting, though only if the General Assembly stays Democratic). She does have a challenger in this race, Gregg Kravitz, who seems to be earnest and interested, but relatively inexperienced (having worked mostly on others' campaigns, and moving into the area recently).

Democratic State Committee: ???

We see ourselves as generally up on even obscure corners of the political scene, but this set of positions, and particularly the election for those positions, is beyond us. It's part of the governance structure of the Democratic Party, which makes endorsements and presumably plays an important role in organizing election and other party efforts. It's populated by a mix of high- and low-profile folks who usually don't do much by way of campaigning (at least not that we can perceive). We can't even find out how many votes you can cast in this race!