With Charlie Dent announcing that he is resigning within weeks, chances are that a short term incumbent will be running in the November election for the new 7th Congressional District. With the primary elections coming up in about a month, the winners will most likely be chosen to compete in the special election which Governor Wolf will call for after Dent's formal resignation. The winner of the special election will complete Dent's current term in the 15th District.
Pundits of the cynical nature will assume that Dent is resigning to enhance the chances of his chosen successor to win the November general election. As it stands right now, I believe that Nothstein and Morganelli are their respective party favorites.
Dent's resignation, for whatever reason, will not be popular locally in the short term. However, he has served his constituents on both the state and federal level for many years, and he will be appreciated for that long service.
This is nothing more than a ploy by Dent to get back at the republicans and President Trump. The do nothing congressman, who never really authored any substantial legislation, was shown the door by the anti-establishment republicans. His centrist views, which more or less coincided with democratic values, did not fit in with the populist sentiment that rose in the last election. In other words, people are sick and tired of the old establishment guard who stuck around, made a lot of noise, and did nothing to fix things.
ReplyDeleteAll I heard from Dent in the last five years was that Obama Care had to go. When it came time to scrap it, he couldn't do it and he couldn't advance any proposals to make the needed changes. Useless! He sat on his ass since 2011 and could not forward one single change. If you call that progressive, you are delusional!
His career was surrounded by co-sponsoring bills and looking pretty. Nothing more, nothing less.
Why anyone would run for an office of a district that will no longer exist next January is beyond me. A ton of work would be involved. The only exception would be if the Dent donors want their Trojan Horse candidate in there to look congressional and appear be the encumbrance.
ReplyDeletea member of this blog's editorial board believes that dent was given a ultimatum by his future cable TV employer to come on board full time for the primaries. I feel that the more probable reason is to turbocharge november's election.
ReplyDeletei believe that dent is popular enough in lehigh valley that he would have been re-elected if he so chose to run again.
Yada, Yada, Yada - The Republicans are in trouble, party in disarray, I don't blame Charlie Dent - he represented his constituents well as a moderate - just what the radicals in the Trump camp don't like. Good Luck!!
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteDent would have had real difficulty winning a Republican primary. His poll numbers among Republicans were rock bottom.He was aware we were activity organizing against him.
scott@9:29, i consider this blog somewhat unique in the valley because my posts do not have an agenda, for or against candidates.
ReplyDeletei believe that the candidate you're supporting will not prevail in the primary. with his opponent being more moderate, he probably wouldn't even run if dent had stayed on.
at the end of the day, regardless of being less popular than before, dent would have been the party's strongest choice for winning the general.
the above is my opinion, but i will not debate it further.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI have said for months he's chomping at the bit to become a pundit.
Now, why would anyone support Morganelli? He's a repub in den clothing.
Doesn't anyone recall how much lawsuits against his depts cost the taxpayer??
Nobody needs a FAKE DEM
After all, Republican primary winners have had a great year!
ReplyDeleteNo RINOs for me, but thanks all the same. Would so much rather prefer a Democrat to tell me how wonderfully affordable 0bamacare really is, anyway, or whatever horse manure they happen to be pushing on any particular given day. Because asking people to prove they are citizens by producing identification at polling places is preposterous, of course.
ReplyDeleteROLF OELER
Mike,
ReplyDeleteIf you claim not to have an agenda you may have a point, but it is a semantics at best. You do however have grudges.
scott@7:18 at this point i'm not pushing or pulling against or for browning or nothstein, same for wild, morganelli and edwards. come november i may or may not endorse a candidate. although I do have some political grudges, none apply to the race for the new 7th district.
ReplyDeletereally...
ReplyDeleteDent may be just a pretty face to Repug wingnuts, but, the man can count.
ReplyDeleteWhen Obama was President, because Repugs knew he wouldn't sign such legislation, it cost "moderate" Repugs nothing to go along with the nonsense talk radio/Fox Noise mantra of wanting "freedom" to not have healthcare/clean air & water/Planned Parenthood, gun controls/decent minimum wage laws/auto safety/food & drug regs/civil rights/marriage & gender equality/yadda yadda. Plus, the money raised by fear mongering was nice.
However, once Trump became President and it was obvious he would sign all manner of discriminatory and repeal legislation, the rubber hits the road. It is one thing for Congressman in red states, especially where only wingnut talk radio is heard and where only FOX NOISE TV is seen in bars and where the Congressional districts are hopelessly GOP gerrymandered and where "Freedom" Caucus members are considered sane to continue to press for these "freedoms."
But, in blue areas like the Lehigh Valley, where sufficient people get upset to learn that repealing healthcare will leave you without any decent coverage, or only let you afford junk policies that cover zippo, where anti-union and proposed "Right to Work" laws will only mean a race to the bottom, where there are access to newspapers and other TV/Cable channels, it is quite another thing to run for Congress and support such policies. Spending all that first money to fend off a far right primary contender, then having to twist yourself and swing back more to center to contest in the general, only to then most likely only end up in the minority in Congress......well, that doesn't hold a candle to a lucrative, relaxing, TV pundit gig, does it?
If a powerful GOP Chairman like Jason Caffritz walked away from all the power and publicity afforded by the House Oversight Committee, and even the freaking Speaker of the House...third in line to the Presidency!.....is walking away from the House, do you expect anyone with at least room temperature IQ in a contestable district to hang in there?
Jason was term limited out as chairman, has better things to do than be just another congressman, just like Dent. Keep wishing on the stars Democrats but today the DOJ inspector general recommended criminal charges for McCabe, perhaps the 1st of many.Gee, I thought it was supposed to be the Donald perp walked out of office.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Charlie we no longer have to worry about Bonds, McGuire, Palmero, etc ruining baseball.
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