Worthless prognosticating

I was forced to use a sick day today. Or as I usually call them--Icy Hot days. The lumbar region has revolted and has to be put down.

Some days ago, the following arrived in the email inbox:

I'm doing an article on NEPA bloggers' predictions for the May primary in the following races: Democratic PA US Senate, Democratic PA Governor, Republican PA Governor, Democratic 11th Congressional, Republican 10th Congressional, Democratic PA 14th Senate, and Democratic 22nd Senate. If you would like to participate, email your picks by 5:00pm on May 11th. Thank you.

As has always been my practice in the past, I rarely, if ever, get too invested in the races I cannot cast a vote in. Although, here locally, all of the races for state positions seem pretty lively, and much more interesting than the usual humdrum norm.

And I rarely get too excited about statewide races, simply because I’m a strict proponent of taking care of political business right here at home. The simple logic is as follows: If we elect only quality people at the local level, then only quality people can gravitate upwards. It’s simple. And I like simplicity.

Anyway, I’ll take a stab at these here predictions.

D PA US Senate: The most recent polling data shows Arlen Specter dropping like a MOAB from the skies over Tora Bora. And in my opinion, deservedly so. And Joe Sestak’s latest television spot about Specter saving “his own” job is not going to reverse the downward trend for Specter. So I’m thinking the end of the political road is in sight for Arlen.

Thank goodness (politically correct version of the dreaded...Thank God).

D PA Governor: This Dan Onorato reminds me of the bullet trains whistling their way past a then-boyish Markie while on their way from Connecticut to NYC. As in, here it comes, ain’t nothing stopping it, put your coins on the track and stay well out of it’s way.

R PA Governor: Tom Corbett seems to be the presumptive nominee. Kind of an uninspiring race, if you ask me. Results in plenty of drug busts, though.

R 10th Congressional: Tom Marino seems to have some momentum and the like. But he’s also got plenty of, ahem, baggage, too.

D 22nd Senate: Chris Doherty seems to be a shoo-in to me, but I can’t figure out why. Here’s my likely exchange with Doherty…

Markie: With the entire financial world on the brink of collapse, do you think we should pass a pay-as-you-go statute?

Hizzoner: Pay-as-you-what? I’m sorry, I’m don’t speak Greek.

D 14th Senate: As I have previously stated, I never paid much attention to John Yudichak until recently. First, the ‘bullying and intimidating’ nonsense at the conclusion of the first debate really, really put me off. And his scripted “I’ll fight for you” and “I’ll work for you” platitudes at the second debate were old hat, if not totally uninspiring.

Tom Leighton has proven that he is committed to financial responsibility. Meanwhile, John Yudichak is part of one the largest, most pork-engorged, most per diem-stuffed legislatures in the country.

Secretly, I was kind of hoping against it until the debates, but I’m thinking Tom Leighton pulls this one out by the hairs on his, uh, his chinny, chin, chin.

And saving the best for last…

D 11th Congressional: Unlike a lot of basement bloggers, I really get around this county as well as a few others. And because I get around as frequently as I do, I can identify bullspit just as fast as I hear it.

For example: This oft-repeated talk radio malarkey about Hazleton becoming a ghost town because of Lou Barletta’s stance on illegal immigration. Let us dispense with that laughable and wildly inaccurate bit of partisan fiction. Never happened. No boarded up stores. No mass exodus. Did not happen.

Another example: This much-revisited pothole “problem” in Wilkes-Barre. Drive the broken and battered streets of both Hazleton and Nanticoke, and you’ll be thrilled to be back and driving the streets of this city.

Now, the conventional wisdom is that Corey O’Brien wins the hometown vote up Scranton way, meaning Kanjo loses the area which drove him to victory during his last reelection dust-up.

Kanjo cannot count on widespread support coming from his hometown of Nanticoke, because the people in Nanticoke that were born after the advent of electricity just flat-out do not like the man. And quite a few of the older voters still can’t get the bitter aftertaste of Cornerstone Technologies out of their mouths.

So if Kanjo cannot carry the Scranton area, and if he cannot even count on wholesale support in his own back yard, how does he win this race?

To me, it sounds a tad far-fetched to say that some baby-faced newcomer with less than two years experience as a county commissioner can upset a longtime, long-entrenched U.S. congressman, but there is a decidedly anti-incumbent smell in the air.

Throw in Kanjo’s predictable rubber stamp of everything Obama, Reid and Pelosi, and I’m thinking the kid knocks off the dinosaur. Or is it, I’m hoping?

Anyway, I ain’t once voted for Paul Kanjorski, and I’m certainly not going to start now.

Personally, Corey O’Brien won my vote when he uttered the words “pay-as-you-go.”

Give me whatever progressive-minded social policies you want, but give me fiscal conservatives. Give me what we need the most at this critical juncture, fiscal responsibility.

Later