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Tag: pennsylvania elections 2014
When Government Was Good

When Government Was Good

THORNDALE, PA — Tom Wolf’s mood is sunny but his words are serious.

He’s answering teachers’ questions at an elementary school featured last year in a New York Times story about the costs of overcrowding and underinvestment. The Democratic nominee for governor, Wolf criticizes Pennsylvania incumbent Tom Corbett for education cuts, but he is not terribly partisan about it. Wolf is a businessman who also holds a Ph.D. in political science, and he offers a brief commentary on the importance of “public goods,” not a term typically invoked on the stump.

He ends a lengthy response about pensions with an apology. “Am I giving you more information than you want here?” he asks with a smile.

Wolf has reason to be in fine spirits. Democrats are unlikely to have a great evening on Nov. 4, but as the returns roll in, the 65-year-old native of York, PA, is almost certain to emerge as one of his party’s stars. Wolf is so far ahead, wrote The Associated Press‘ Marc Levy, that the state’s pollsters couldn’t find an example of a candidate who “overcame the kind of polling deficit Corbett now faces.”

Democrats may find solace in other governors’ races as well, but Wolf will stand out as an unusual politician who speaks to two of the main sources of popular discontent: unhappiness with the economic system over its failure to deliver for so many workers, and widespread alienation from government.

As a businessman who took over and at one point saved his family’s building materials company, Wolf thinks capitalism works best when employees have a stake in their firm’s success.

“I share 20 to 30 percent of my net profit with my employees,” Wolf says. “Everybody is a stockholder in the company. My Republican father came up with the idea. And he did it because it really works.

“I am judged in my company by my truck drivers, not by me. They see my customers more than I do. I know that my warehouse people who pack the trucks get credit because they pack the trucks so well.” Thinking of workers as stakeholders is old-fashioned. But these days, it’s also revolutionary.

Then there is his talk of “public goods.” Wolf recalls picking up a group of exchange students from France who visited his family in 1965, a time when America’s public works were the best in the world. Kennedy Airport, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the New Jersey Turnpike, the nation’s water systems, the new schools in his hometown — all, he says, were state of the art.

Since then we have fallen far behind other nations in productive infrastructure investment. “You can get away with deferred maintenance in any setting for so long, but then things don’t work,” Wolf notes during an interview in the school’s library where a water-damaged wall underscores his message. “This stuff really does catch up to you. You don’t get jobs. You don’t have people who can buy things. You let your schools get hollowed out. That’s not good for anybody.

“Yes, the market is going to deliver the goods,” he concludes, “but what does the government need to do to make sure the market is operating optimally?”

Yet progressives, Wolf argues, have to confront uncomfortable facts, too: “People are afraid of taxes because they don’t see that they get much for their taxes. … Governments in the United States have to show — and I think it’s a bipartisan finger-pointing exercise here — that we can actually deliver to people who pay taxes.”

He speaks of his time as secretary of revenue under then-Gov. Ed Rendell when he visited with his agency’s employees to persuade them to look at the state’s taxpayers as “our customers,” as “the ones that give you employment.”

“What we need is to get out of this sort of thing that government is this immutable institution that just sits there and is a pain in the butt at best. … The case must be made again that government is something that actually plays a constructive role in the lives of people.”

Then the hard part: “But to do that, you can’t just say it. You’ve got to actually act it out.”

True, Wolf is setting himself high standards. But in an era of deadlock and estrangement from public institutions, it’s bracing just to hear someone insist that they can be made to work again.

E.J. Dionne’s email address is ejdionne@washpost.com. Twitter: @EJDionne.

Photo: Tom Wolf via Flickr

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Clinton, Christie Rally Pennsylvania For Wolf And Corbett

Clinton, Christie Rally Pennsylvania For Wolf And Corbett

By Thomas Fitzgerald and Chris Palmer, The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — Tom Wolf, the Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, was still speaking Thursday evening when the politician who only needs one name (like a Brazilian soccer star) stepped from behind a curtain, early.

Hillary! The crowd at the National Constitution Center roared at the sight.

In Wayne, on the Main Line, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was the afternoon attraction at a less-raucous rally for the re-election of Gov. Tom Corbett.

With two potential 2016 presidential candidates just 14 miles apart, it was hard not to think beyond the current campaign to the one coming — though Hillary Rodham Clinton and Christie took pains to focus on the present.

Clinton’s remarks at a “Women for Wolf” event were salted with populist references to working families that boosted the nominee but also sounded at times like a presidential primary stump speech.

“At a time when corporations seem to have all the rights, but none of the responsibilities of people, you deserve a governor who will put Pennsylvania families first,” she said to a crowd of about 900 people.

Meanwhile, flanked by rows of steely-faced cadets in a half-full banquet hall at Valley Forge Military Academy, Corbett said he’s balanced Pennsylvania’s budget and resisted raising taxes, while the unemployment rate has fallen.

“We’re in a much better situation than we were four years ago,” the governor told a crowd of about 200 who clapped politely.

Then the other governor, Christie, delivered the red meat as he strolled to the lectern to thunderous applause.

He said Wolf was “lying” in blaming Corbett for education cuts, when the administration had increased funding. “We could use a nicer word (for Wolf), but it’s the word that fits him,” said Christie, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, which has given $5.8 million to Corbett’s underdog campaign.

“We cannot allow a liar to win the governorship of Pennsylvania,” Christie said.

Polls show Wolf in cruise control, leading by an average of 15 percentage points, with Corbett seeking to solidify support in the GOP base and drive home doubts about Wolf’s plans.

Clinton drew loud cheers when she discussed education, describing cuts that have resulted in 27,000 layoffs and larger class sizes across the state as “heart” and a “down payment on decline.”

The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state also talked about women’s rights, saying that women deserved equal pay for equal work, paid family leave, and to be left alone to make their own health-care decisions.

A Quinnipiac University Poll released earlier in the week found that 59 percent of Pennsylvania women likely to vote on Nov. 4 prefer Wolf, while 34 percent support the incumbent.

“You want to know what Tom Wolf won’t do?” Clinton said, recalling one Corbett gaffe and exaggerating another. “He’ll never tell Pennsylvania women ‘Stop complaining, you just have to close your eyes.’ He will never compare the marriage of loving and committed partners to incest. . ..Pennsylvania has had enough shame and blame.”

Before the rally, Clinton attended a high-priced fundraiser for Wolf behind closed doors in the Constitution Center’s Annenberg auditorium. Wolf aides would not say how much the event was expected to raise.

Christie, too, attended a fundraiser — for Corbett, at an undisclosed private home in Bryn Mawr after the Valley Forge rally.

The Clinton-Wolf public event drew 14 television cameras and more than 50 journalists, including a crew from Japan’s NHK network. Secret Service agents were posted around the room, and hundreds of people began lining up behind metal barricades an hour before the Constitution Center doors opened.

Maureen Kersting, 34, said she has looked up to Clinton almost as long as she can remember.

“Chelsea’s about my age, and I was able to look at Hillary as someone I could relate to, like my mom,” said Kersting, a veterinarian who is a stay-at-home mother. “She did things people didn’t do. She kept her maiden name. She spoke up forcefully, not as ‘the spouse,’ but as her own person. It was ‘Hil and Bill.'”

As people do at many Clinton appearances, attendees said they were excited about the possibility of her becoming the first woman president.

“The country needs a woman,” said Tina Davis of Bucks County. “Women just come to work. That’s it.”

Likewise, there were many in the Wayne crowd who were hoping Christie seeks the GOP nomination in 2016.

Greg Arnoldi, 32, from Drexel Hill, attending with his wife, Kristin, said before the speech, “I’ve got to be brutally honest. We’re Pennsylvania residents. We’re here for Christie, though.” Why? He connects with people.”

Bert Kirsch, from Quakertown in Bucks County, said after the speech that she was impressed by Corbett, too. But she couldn’t contain herself from discussing Christie.

“I hope he runs for president,” she said.

Soon after, she left the hall holding her white Corbett sign.

Clinton and Christie were in agreement on one thing: The election for governor is not over.

“Every race Tom Corbett’s ever been in, he’s been underestimated,” Christie told the crowd. “Every race he’s ever been in, people have thought, ‘No we’re going to be beat Corbett this time.’ And believe me, his opponent thinks the same thing right now, and so now is the time to finish this off.”

In an oblique reference to her failed 2008 run for president, Clinton said she’s seen supposedly insurmountable leads melt before — and told the audience to buckle down for Wolf.

“From my perspective,” she said, “you can’t count on things turning out the way you want them unless you go out and work for it.”

Photo: Tom Wolf via Flickr

Another Republican Gives Up Obamacare Fight

Another Republican Gives Up Obamacare Fight

Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania is the latest Republican to retreat from the Obamacare wars.

On Thursday, the federal government approved Governor Corbett’s plan to expand Medicaid in the Keystone State, making it the 27th state in the nation to adopt the controversial provision of the Affordable Care Act. Corbett had initially opposed expanding Medicaid at all, but earlier this year he bowed to mounting political pressure by offering a plan that would expand Medicaid with a number of Republican-friendly conditions, such as a work requirement and the authority to charge premiums for recipients living below the poverty line. Those did not make it into the final deal.

The agreement should be a boon to Pennsylvania’s working poor; at least 500,000 Medicaid-eligible Pennsylvanians will now be able to sign up for coverage starting on January 1. It will also save the state $4.5 billion over the next eight years, according to Corbett (independent studies have pegged the savings to be even higher)

Corbett clearly hopes that the news will provide a political boost as well. The governor’s announcement of the agreement, which calls it “historic,” “innovative,” and “truly a Pennsylvania solution,” is just about the nicest thing that any elected Republican has ever said about the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, Medicaid expansion is wildly popular in Pennsylvania. And as of last week, the Republican governors on the ballot in 2014 who have adopted Medicaid expansion were polling an average of 8.5 percent better than those who hadn’t. It’s not hard to understand what prompted Corbett’s change of heart.

Unfortunately for Corbett, it’s probably too late to save his re-election campaign; the terminally gaffe-prone governor trails his Democratic challenger Tom Wolf by 16.6 percent according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. But plenty of other Republicans have also realized that it makes sense to buck the party line on Medicaid expansion. As The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent has documented, GOP senate candidates such as Scott Brown in New Hampshire, Tom Cotton in Arkansas, Joni Ernst in Iowa, Terri Lynn Land in Michigan, and Thom Tillis in North Carolina have tied themselves in knots trying to explain how they would repeal the Affordable Care Act without getting rid of any of the popular parts.

It’s almost as if voters would rather expand health care coverage than burn billions of dollars to thumb their noses at the White House.

Of course, this wasn’t supposed to happen. For over a year, Republicans have been promising that Obamacare would be the anchor that sinks every Democrat on the ballot and sparks a GOP wave in November. Instead, many Republicans are now either embracing sections of the law, or just ignoring it altogether. It appears that we can add this blown prediction to long list of Obamacare disasters that stubbornly refused to materialize.

Photo: Chesapeake Bay Program via Flickr

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Poll Roundup: Iowa Senate Race Is ‘Deadlocked’

Poll Roundup: Iowa Senate Race Is ‘Deadlocked’

As the 2014 midterm elections draw closer, pollsters across the country will begin releasing masses of data and their predictions of who will control the House of Representatives, the Senate, and statehouses across the country. We’ll put those predictions in focus and provide a brief summary of key polls. Here’s our roundup from the week of August 24:

Iowa

The Iowa Senate race between Republican Joni Ernst and Democrat Bruce Braley is “deadlocked,” according to the latest USA Today/Suffolk University poll. The survey has Ernst and Braley tied at 40 percent. Independent Rick Stewart has 2 percent, and the other three candidates — Bob Quast (representing the Bob Quast for Term Limits party), Libertarian Douglas Butzier, and independent Ruth Smith — each have 1 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, 15 percent of voters are still undecided. The survey has a +/- 4.4 percent margin of error.

Braley is winning 80 percent of Democrats base, while Ernst has 77 percent of the Republican base behind her. Independents split pretty evenly between the two candidates, with 39 percent supporting Ernst and 36 percent backing Braley. Braley leads among voters passionate about jobs, health care, and education, while voters concerned about the budget and national security say that they would vote for Ernst.

“If you drive north into Iowa on I-35 coming from Missouri, you’ll see a landscape full of red counties far to the left and blue counties far to the right,” Suffolk University Political Research Center Director David Paleologos said. “The poll pits Democrat Braley’s congressional district in the northeast against Ernst’s Senate district in the southwest, but the voters in between will make the difference.”

Though Ernst has made many extreme comments lately, it doesn’t seem to be hurting her campaign too much. The Real Clear Politicspoll average has her ahead by 0.2 points.

Wisconsin

A new Marquette Law School poll finds that the race between Republican governor Scott Walker and Democratic challenger Mary Burke is very close. Among registered voters, 47.5 percent would vote for Walker and 44.1 percent would vote for Burke. Another 5.5 percent say they are undecided or don’t know, and less than 1 percent would vote for someone else.

Among those who say they are definitely voting in November, however, Burke leads with 48.6 percent, while Walker has 46.5 percent, 2.5 percent are undecided, and less than 1 percent say they would vote for another candidate.

Both results are within the margin of error (+/- 3.5 percent for registered voters and +/- 4.1 percent for likely voters).

“The difference in vote between likely voters and all registered voters is a measure of the roles turnout and enthusiasm play in the election and tells us which party, at the moment, is enjoying greater intensity,” Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School poll, said.

In other words, Burke’s lead among people who say they will vote in November likely means that Democrats are currently more invested in the election.

The survey also found that Burke and Walker are tied at 45 percent when it comes to who voters think would create the most jobs. Women favor Burke, while men favor Walker.

The Real Clear Politicspoll average has the two candidates tied.

Pennsylvania

Republican governor Tom Corbett might as well just give up hope for a second term. The latest Franklin & Marshall College poll has Corbett trailing Democratic challenger Tom Wolf by a staggering 25 points (49 percent to 24 percent). There’s still a large amount of undecided voters, however (25 percent). The survey has a margin of error of +/- 4.3 percent.

Only 24 percent of voters think that Corbett is doing a good job as governor, and less than half of his own party thinks that he’s done an “excellent” or “good” job. Just 26 percent of voters think that he deserves re-election. A majority of voters (61 percent) believe that the state is “off on the wrong track.”

Corbett has been heavily criticized for his drastic education cuts. He also came under fire this week for suggesting that women in particular support liquor reform because it would save them time when preparing dinner (the latest in a long string of gaffes throughout his tenure).

The Real Clear Politicspoll average has Wolf ahead by 16.6 points.

Massachusetts

For the first time in The Boston Globe’s poll of the Massachusetts gubernatorial race, Republican Charlie Baker has pulled ahead of Democrat Martha Coakley. The race is essentially tied — 38 percent support Baker and 37 percent support Coakley.

Baker’s lead is within the +/- 4 percent margin of error, but The Boston Globe’s Stephanie Ebbert notes that “it shows movement” in the race. According to Ebbert, Baker was helped this week by a Republican SuperPAC that’s started airing ads touting his experience. And John Della Volpe — the chief executive of SocialSphere Inc, which conducted the poll for The Boston Globe — attributes Baker’s lead to the fact that he’s been able to distance himself from his original ambivalent reaction to the Hobby Lobby ruling, which Democrats used against him. Baker’s favorable rating has also risen to 47 percent, compared to 41 percent who saw him favorably in August.

Coakley’s favorability has dropped 2 points since the beginning of August, from 53 percent to 51 percent. Coakley still has to win her Democratic primary in September. Though she is heavily favored to do so, she’s going to need to work to gain the support of the rest of her party once she’s past the primary. The survey shows that 48 percent of supporters of her opponent, Steve Grossman, say they would go against the party and vote for Baker over if Grossman loses the primary. Just 28 percent would vote for Coakley.

The Real Clear Politicspoll average still has Coakley ahead by 7.5 points.

Photo: Monica de Argentina via Flickr

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