PA-7 election, Dem upsurge in Delaware County?

Last Sunday's Delco Times had an article by Bill Bender asking: Has vaunted Delco GOP machine stalled?

Bender asks:

For Delaware County Republicans, it’s time to crack open the machine, inspect the moving parts and diagnose the problem -- if there is one. How did their 10-term congressman and 14-term state legislator lose in solidly Republican districts? What does it portend for municipal and county races? Is it an isolated incident, or are the once-impotent Democrats finally learning how to play the game?

With a significant registration edge (54%-35% according to the article), how did Joe Sestak beat a 20 year incumbent by 12%?

Differing views from the article:

"Michael Puppio, the county councilman from Springfield who managed Weldon’s campaign.": "Clearly it’s a national situation," said Puppio, referring to both of his party’s losses. "I don’t believe it’s indicative of anything that’s going on locally."

"I think the people have gotten out ahead of the parties on this. Republicans are not voting their registration, they’re voting for who they feel the best candidate is and who best represents their interests," said [Brian Lentz' campaign Chairman Ed] Bradley, a Democratic committeeman in Upper Darby.

"I’m not surprised, because in the sixth year of a presidency, there is a history of a strong turnout by the opposition party," said county council Chairman Andrew Reilly, the Republican leader in Middletown and the 168th Legislative District. "Politics is a self-cleansing process," he said. Reilly rejects the belief held by Cliff Wilson, the county’s Democratic leader, that Democrats can take control of the all-Republican county council by the end of the decade. Three seats are up next year, two held by incumbents. "I believe if we run the county as we’ve always run it as Republicans we’ll keep county council, if we run it as efficiently and openly as we have," he said.

"We now have a true leader," said David Landau, the Nether Providence Democratic Party chairman who served as a key adviser to Sestak’s campaign. "We have someone who not only is a leader in terms of his character and integrity, but he had a vision about how you run a campaign and do politics. He understands the system."

So are we in the midst of a sea change, a Democratic tsunami? Bender's article says:

Sestak’s emergence coincides with what appears to be a greater willingness among Republicans to split their tickets, and not only in presidential elections. Democrats also outregistered the GOP leading up to the 2004 presidential election -- then did it again this year.

"I think there is kind of a blind spot in the eye of the Republicans not to see that the demographics of Delaware County are changing," said James Hedtke, a political science professor at Cabrini College in Radnor. "The county is becoming more diverse, and more diversity favors the Democrats."

The post-election (Nov 10, 2006) Delco Times editorial

Back here in Delaware County, change is also in the wind. It is the shifting breeze - now threatening to become a full-fledged storm - of political power.

Shifting breeze or sea change?

Looking ahead to 2008, who will run against Joe Sestak?

Tom Judge Sr., chairman of the county Republican Party, wouldn’t speculate on who would challenge Sestak in 2008. But when asked about U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, the former county district attorney from Upper Darby, Judge said "his name was certainly mentioned by some people."

But according to the News of Delaware County, a challenger has emerged. In a letter to the editor in the Nov 15, 2006 paper (letter not online, sorry), Havertown's Joe Breslin says he's running in 2008.

If this is what the Delco GOP has to offer to counteract the Dem surge, I'd say the the Delco Democratic tsunami is in full swing! Catch a wave!