The Pennsylvania Senate race tightens and it's partly my fault

[Spexxvet]

I saw an ad for Prick Sans-rectum today. It was about how he introduced legislation that helps seniors get early detection of colon cancer. Why is it that repubicans advertise their liberal accomplishments to try to get votes? Notice he didn't advertise that the repububicans kept senior citizens taxes high by giving a tax break to the wealthiest Americans. Notice he didn't say that the money we're spending in Iraq could have been better used to refill the coffers of Social Security. Or that he supports the government's power to determine when a person should be allowed to die. No - he advertises how he spent more tax money to help senior citizens, a concept in direct conflict with conservative ideals. What a hypocrit!

[Undertoad]

Outsiders watching the race right now should know that Santorum is running a ton of both positive and negative ads while the Casey campaign is doing nothing. The race has tightened as a result, which is the only way the Santorum campaign can manage, because running ads this early is not to convince voters but to make sure that the money spigots don't shut off too early. If the race is seen as unwinnable, nobody will donate to it.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Why is it that repubicans advertise their liberal accomplishments to try to get votes?

Ya think maybe it's because the Republican voters are already going to vote for them? Hmmm... This politics stuff is hard. :-)

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Ya think maybe it's because the Republican voters are already going to vote for them? Hmmm... This politics stuff is hard. :-)

False advertising, huh? Hopefully the repubicans will see the ads and be disenchanted with and stay away from the polls. BTW - Democrats are too smart to fall for the lies.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

False advertising, huh? Hopefully the repubicans will see the ads and be disenchanted with and stay away from the polls. BTW - Democrats are too smart to fall for the lies.

It's the swing voters that have the power. Fickle bastards.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Outsiders watching the race right now should know that Santorum is running a ton of both positive and negative ads while the Casey campaign is doing nothing.

I've been hearing Casey Jr. spots on KYW (on those rare occasions when the right wing talk station is broadcasting baseball and I don't like the show on the religious station), but most of them seem to be negative ads about Santorum rather than positive ads about Casey's intent, which leads me to believe that Casey Jr. doesn't have any positive intent.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Ya think maybe it's because the Republican voters are already going to vote for them? Hmmm... This politics stuff is hard. :-)

You know, Maggie, you could have been helpful and courteous, and just posted the first sentence. But, no, you had to add that second sentence, trying to show that you are superior. Is your inferiority complex so huge that you must take every opportunity to try to show how much better you are than everyone else? This kind of post is why conservatives make me want to puke. It's not so much the ideology as it is the personality of the typical right wing asshole.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

You know, Maggie, you could have been helpful and courteous, and just posted the first sentence.

Don't you think it's more than obvious that the purpose of political advertising (which is rather expensive) is to get more people to vote for the candidate, rather than to preach to the idiological choir?

Maybe that is kind of an obscure concept...look at the chairman of the DNC these days (speaking of assholes). Not to mention the Senate race in Connecticut.

[Undertoad]

Spexx, your post #19 and your post #22 do not work well together.

Originally Posted by #19

BTW - Democrats are too smart to fall for the lies.

Originally Posted by #22

Is your inferiority complex so huge that you must take every opportunity to try to show how much better you are than everyone else?

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Don't you think it's more than obvious that the purpose of political advertising (which is rather expensive) is to get more people to vote for the candidate, rather than to preach to the idiological choir?

Maybe that is kind of an obscure concept...look at the chairman of the DNC these days (speaking of assholes). Not to mention the Senate race in Connecticut.

I wasn't addressing the content of your first sentence, my post was directed at your snide second sentence.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

I wasn't addressing the content of your first sentence, my post was directed at your snide second sentence.

My snide second sentence was mocking how obvious a point it was. If you expect a Cellar without mockery you'll be sorely disppointed. Especally in view of how much a pot you are to that kettle.

[Undertoad]

My expectation in post #15 has played out:

Green Party hopeful is out; win for Casey

The prospect of a three-way U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania appeared all but over yesterday as the state Supreme Court rebuffed Green Party Senate candidate Carl Romanelli's bid to get on the November ballot.

The ruling, in a one-sentence order, was good news for the Bob Casey campaign, which had feared that Mr. Romanelli's presence on the ballot would siphon votes from the Democrat. For the same reason, it was a blow to Sen. Rick Santorum and to the Republican donors who had funded the petition drive that sought to establish the Green hopeful's access to the November ballot.

State election law dictates that independent candidates for statewide office submit nominating petitions with a total number of signatures from registered voters equivalent to 2 percent of the votes cast for the top vote-getter in the most recent statewide election. The justices upheld a Commonwealth Court ruling that set a 67,000-vote threshold based on 2 percent of the votes cast for Mr. Casey in his 2004 race for state treasurer.

Mr. Romanelli's attorney, Lawrence Otter, argued that state elections officials should have used a 2005 judicial retention election for Justice Sandra Newman, a move that would have resulted in a signature requirement of approximately 15,000. The Green candidate had originally submitted nominating petitions, which he said, contained early 100,000 signatures.

After a review by state elections officials and litigation before Commonwealth Court, thousands of those signatures were ruled invalid, leaving him at least 9,000 short of the required total. Requirements for valid signatures are exacting under state law. Signatures collected must be from registered voters, and precisely match the data, such as address, recorded on state voter rolls.

100,000 signatures submitted, 58,000 found valid. That's a terrible rate. We used to hope for a 20% cushion.

[wolf]

Perhaps that says something about people likely to support a Green candidate? Unregistered, but enthusiastic enough to lie about registration status on a petition drive?

[Undertoad]

Also coming true is my point in #17. The race tightened when only Santorum was running ads. Now that both are running ads, the race returned to a 10-point margin.

[Undertoad]

You don't need to be a Green supporter to sign, you just have agree that they have the right to be on the ballot.

The judge will allow a certain amount of signatures with no registration data -- because the signers only need to be registered in time to vote in the election, and there is no proof that the person didn't submit a registration application that wasn't processed yet.

This many bad sigs is more than likely cheating on behalf of the paid signature gatherers. Easy to figure. It's really hard to get signatures and they get as much as $2 per signature. You can get as many as 12 signatures per hour if you go door to door and are good at it. But if you're good at faking signatures you can get many more per hour.