Sestak meets with Boeing, sets transistion team

I like the way Sestak is moving forward into his new job. First he met with Boeing employees, then with firefighters, two groups that generally supported Weldon. Now he meets with Boeing brass, according to Kathleen Carey of the Delco Times last week. Delco Times' Bill Bender says:

Sestak has been attending orientation meetings in the capitol and meeting with local political leaders, elected officials and interest groups. He said they all have his ear, regardless of their party affiliation.

Then he sets a transistion team that includes (according to Bender's article):

- Bill Walsh, former Navy captain, served as Sestak’s campaign manager;
- Scott Jenkins, Republican businessman from Radnor, served as co-chair of Sestak’s finance committee;
- State Sen. Connie Williams, D-17, of Lower Merion;
- State Rep. Greg Vitali, D-166, of Haverford;
- Wendell Young, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776;
- Elizabeth Sestak, sister, served as his campaign chief of staff and finance director;
- Richard Sestak, brother, served as his campaign and political director and chief fundraiser.

Sestak has chosen his two top campaign leaders, two leading Democratic state legislators in the district, two family members/campaign team, and the UFCW Local 1776 President who outspokenly endorsed Sestak and spoke out against those implying that Weldon had AFL-CIO support.

I think Admiral Sestak is doing a lot of right things to get things rolling.

Weldon's Brain

Bush has Karl Rove. Weldon had...Drexel Hill's Alexi Vandenberg?

This headline recently ran on PoliticsPA: Read the March 2006 memo that Republican strategist Alexi Vandenberg wrote on how Congressman Curt Weldon should run for re-election [Link downloads a PDF document.] If you read it, you will be able to reverse engineer Weldon's 2006 campaign.

Some highlights:

International Politics does nothing but alienate the Congressman from local voters. Most of the voters couldn't locate Korea on a map let along be concerned about what they want to do to the US. [Later...] It also allows Sestak to tout his own background in military and international affairs.

Methinks we simultaneously give Weldon too much credit, and the voters of Delaware County too little.

Paint Sestak as a carpetbagger.

Attempted and failed, but it was the only strategy Curt really had, so he's not to be blamed for trying. Sestak supporters found him to have sufficiently deep ties to the community, but they were also looking for somebody with competence and a plan. This was a cycle where the issues were serious (Iraq) and large in scale (Iraq). A candidate who directly addressed those issues was going to do better than a candidate who resorted to name-calling.

Reformat the venerable GOP machine...

So we're finally acknowledging that it's a machine? That's a breath of fresh air.

Vandenberg's memo talks about techniques that are more akin to movements than machines, and those two forces do not co-exist peacefully. Machines use carrots (patronage, access, influence) and sticks (coersion, inaction) to exert and maintain power. Machines work, but people also eventually get sick of being manipulated.

If the GOP wants to reverse its current trends and grow its ranks, they should scrap all the vestiges of the War Board, recruit a bunch of fresh young faces, and rediscover the Delaware County that moved in while they were sleeping. Instead, Weldon had Campaign Manager Puppio.

Movements are fueled by a dedicated grassroots. And there was only one movement candidate in this election.

In addition, utilize the fractured nature of the Democratic Party in Delaware County to create fissures that can be exploited. This is easily done considering that Chairman Wilson seems hell bent on creating them without our help.

Easily done, eh? Another miscalculation created by Machine-think.

Political machines create internal power structures that are hard or impossible to buck. While it's true that there's a split in the Democratic party in Delco, that division has only to do with differing strategies about how the party should be built and operated. Politically, it's inside baseball.

But there is no ideological divide; no hardliners vs. moderates disagreeing about issues. By the end of his first week, Sestak had already transcended the intra-party disagreements. There was never a question that we were unified in our commitment to Joe's victory.

The campaign charted its own course, and the motivated volunteers--not all of whom were Democrats--helped to carry out the plan.

Sestak backs Murtha, but Hoyer gets Dem Majority Leader nod

An anonymous comment to a previous post said:
"Joe is the new face of the Democratic Party",isn't it kind of hypocritical that he said he was going to support Murtha after making an issue of Weldons ethics,is he going to be a puppet with Pelosi pulling the strings?Can't wait to see if PA7-Watch will call him on this.

The issue being referred to here is jockeying for position in the new Dem-controlled House leadership. With Nancy Pelosi voted in as the incoming Speaker of the House, there was a contest for the #2 spot as Democratic Majority Leader. Pelosi backed PA's Jack Murtha, but the Dems chose Rep. Steny Hoyer from Maryland.

My first comment is that if the anonymous commenter was a Weldon supporter, isn't it now a case of saying "my guy was corrupt, but your guy is backing a guy who we think is corrupt, so you guy is bad too." If the commenter was worried about corrupt Congressmen, were they trying to expose their own Congressman's corruption?

My second comment is that it was not Sestak "making an issue of Weldons ethics," it was the FBI. Sestak let the facts speak for themselves for the most part in the campaign and didn't go to great lengths to bash Weldon over it.

So, a RAZZIE to the anonymous flip-flopping poster. But a HURRAH for calling attention to the issue.

Now back to the issue, Sestak backing Murtha. I'm glad Hoyer was elected by his fellow Dems. I won't support Murtha's past, though I'm not too familiar with his alleged misdeeds. But I will support Murtha's bold stand as one of the first and initially few voices speaking out against the Iraq War. There was a shift when former military man Murtha spoke out. That made it okay for a lot of others to do the same thing. And that matched up well with what the voters wanted too. As stated in the Inquirer: "That Murtha is a decorated Vietnam War veteran with close ties to the Pentagon bolstered his credibility to make the antiwar case."

Why did Sestak back Murtha? Bill Bender in the Delco Times quotes Sestak:

"(Murtha’s) position on Iraq, which is an extremely important issue for our nation, was one I much respected," said Sestak, a former Navy vice admiral

And more from the Inquirer:

"He's the dean of the Pennsylvania delegation, and I very much respect his position, which is one of moral courage, on Iraq," Sestak said.

Also, Murtha spoke out and supported Sestak when the Weldon swift-boaters tried to take a shot at Sestak in the campaign.

Phil Heron gives Sestak a DART on this vote. Seems harsh from the guy who gave Weldon a LAUREL after the FBI raids, with a "Hang in there Curt" comment with it. I haven't forgotten that one! (wink)

So I will give Sestak a pass on this one. Though I don't agree with his choice, I understand why he voted that way. And I'm glad it turned out Hoyer got the nod by a pretty wide margin.

But in the larger picture, I backed Sestak, and I DO expect him to do what he said he would do, and I DO hold him to a high standard of ethics. I DO expect he won't fall into the same corrupt activities that his predecessor. If he does, the RAZZIES will fly!

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!

Sestak reaches out to Boeing, Firefighters

Two groups that backed Curt Weldon to the hilt got a greeting from Congressman-Elect Joe Sestak. According to Bill Bender of the Delco Times, Boeing, Delco’s firefighters have a friend in Joe Sestak

Bender reports that Sestak called United Aerospace Workers Local 1069 President John DeFrancisco and described his role in buying the V-22 in his Navy position, where

he oversaw $67 billion a year in spending, deciding which ships, aircraft and other instruments of warfare are the most cost-efficient and effective. Boeing’s hybrid helicopter was one of them. "The V-22 is an absolute military necessity," he said.

That’s what Local 1069 President John DeFrancisco wants to hear. About 800 union jobs are tied to the helicopter at the Ridley plant, where there are between 4,800 and 4,900 employees overall.

Turns out Sestak also was trained as a firefighter in the Navy. From the Times: "I know how important first response is," Sestak said. "I intend to give first responders here and the volunteer firefighters absolutely full support."

Hey Weldon supporters at Boeing and fire houses across the district, maybe our guy ain't so bad! Give him a chance...

Did Sestak win or Weldon lose?

Lots of articles and comments and discussions on whether it was more that Curt Weldon lost this race by the FBI raids or poor campaigning, or whether it was Joe Sestak who pushed the envelope and won the race.

Tim Logue in today's Delco Times cites:

"A loss by Curt Weldon can only be self-inflicted," Democratic political consultant Larry Ceisler said in the summer of 2004. "The opponent doesn’t matter. The external factors don’t matter."

Logue goes on to describe other factors that brought Weldon down or how he brought himself down. The FBI raids of course, and the underlying ethics problems. The attacks on Sestak that only seemed to raise Sestak's profile. The rusty campaign skills. The Able Danger conspiracy. The missing WMDs conspiracy.

In his left-handed way, even the Times' Gil Spencer almost compliments Sestak in his piece "All credit to Sestak for his flawless campaign", which despite the headline, offers a few token kudos while taking a few less-than-subtle shots at the guy who knocked off his pal Weldon.

==============================================
At the end of the day it really doesn't matter if you think Weldon blew it or Sestak won it. My opinion is that Sestak won it because of his positions on the Iraq War and many other important issues that held sway with the voters. I also think that he inspired people to come out and work for him that haven't done that in a long time, if ever. Lots of individuals gave time and money because they believed in the cause and believed Sestak would win. Weldon was on the wrong side of many issues. He also tried to distance himself from his Republican/Bush connections. Maybe he should have tried to stay the course! Weldon voted in ways that his constituents did not like. Couple that with an opponent with stellar qualifications and good positions, and it all adds up to a Sestak victory.

It would be foolish to think that the margin of victory was not inflated due to the FBI raids and the ensuing publicity. But I'd say Sestak wins anyway. It's all idle speculation of course, but hey, that's what blogs are for!

==============================================
If you want to look ahead 2 years, how about this one from today's Philadelphia Daily News:

Platt won't quit his day job

Joe Sestak's victory over Curt Weldon for the longtime congressman's seat has shattered Larry Platt's political dreams.

Though Platt, editor of Philadelphia magazine, doesn't yet live in Weldon's old district, he was mulling a 2008 run for Weldon's seat.

On Friday, Platt confirmed that he'd "idly fantasized" about challenging Weldon in 2008. But with Weldon's loss, Platt says his "dream is not only deferred but dead." Platt says he wouldn't challenge a fellow Democrat and that, furthermore, he's "a card-carrying coward and wouldn't stack up well against Admiral Sestak."

Boeing adds 200 jobs, Sestak gets a Heron Laurel

For those who were convinced that the end of Weldon was the end of Boeing, you might have been surprised that post-Sestak victory, Boeing announces the hiring of 200 engineers at the Ridley Park facility, according to the Philly Inquirer. The new hires will work to

...build an advanced search and rescue version of the long-serving CH-47 Chinook helicopter for the Air Force.

Boeing said yesterday that it won the competition to build the new version, the HH-47, in a contract worth up to $10 billion for 141 production aircraft and four test aircraft.

In today's Delco Times, editor Phil Heron gives a Laurel to Joe Sestak, saying, "Today they can call him something else: Congressman-elect. Sestak stunned the GOP and brought the Curt Weldon era to a resounding end, winning by a convincing margin." Later in the same piece, Heron describes the results of their online poll from earlier this week:

Do you believe the Daily Times’ coverage of the elections was fair or showed a bias?

Fair. I feel it was honest and balanced, 37.5 percent;
Biased. They must be radical libs, 47.6 percent;
Undecided, 9.7 percent;
Duh, what election coverage? 5.2 percent.

Almost half of the respondents said the Delco Times must be "radical libs?" Is there another edition, the radical liberal edition of the Delco Times, that I'm not seing? I voted in the poll and gave them a vote for "honest and balanced," though there was nowhere to put a note "except for Spencer."

Post Sestak Victory / Weldon retirement coverage

At the victory party Joe Sestak said something about having pancakes at the Llanerch Diner this morning. I thought he was kidding...I was wrong. CBS3 brought their cameras to this local hangout near Upper Darby/Havertown. Check out this pretty cool video coverage.

The Delco Times ran an election day sort-of blog, with editor Phil Heron calling his running commentary the 'Heron's Nest,' using the name suggested here at PA-7 Watch. Phil even opened up the comment line and there were 22 comments on there as of this evening. While I'm flattered that Mr. Heron used my suggestion for his blog's name and mentioned this blog, it would be nice if he could put in our URL (www.PA7Watch.com) in there! I guess the readers there can just Google us. And I'm still waiting for my comment to be posted. Waiting 12 hours or more for a comment to be reviewed and released is an eternity in the blogosphere! Hurrahs to Phil Heron for this effort.

Razzies to whoever spraypainted the bridge. The Sestak campaign didn't need vandalism to win this race. Bad form. If the vandals wanted to help Sestak, there were certainly better ways to do it. Speaking of bad form, Razzies to the theives who stole the large number of Sestak signs and threw them on Sestak's front yard.

Hurrahs to the Delco Times reportering staff. In this morning's edition, the lead story from Bill Bender and Alex Rose was a fine recap of the day's events, Sestak's and Weldon's comments and the victory party.

I'll join Joe Sestak in thanking Curt Weldon and a Hurrah for his long tenure as PA-7's Congressman. Though we have focused on Weldon's shortcomings here at PA-7 Watch, I'm not blind to some good things he did.

But in the end, Weldon earned another Razzie by trying to blame the voters' decision on the FBI raids. Weldon was quoted as saying:

"Three weeks ago, we were seven points up in the polls, and then the bottom dropped out," Weldon said. "What can I say? I’m not complaining, I’m not whining, I’m not making excuses. It is what is."

Sure sounds like whining to me, and falls right in line with the many conspiracies that we've heard from Weldon on so many topics, recently and over his 10 terms. Taylor Marsh on the Huffington Post calls him "Crazy Curt" in her election day post, and we've heard him called "Wacky Weldon" more than once. It's not that these name-calling taunts have no basis in truth. And in this case, Weldon is way off base again. Weldon did not have a lead in the polls three weeks ago, and if he thought that, he was kidding himself. But more importantly, the FBI raid was not something that just happened to Curt Weldon, it was something that he directly caused. So maybe the FBI caused it to be a loss by 13% instead of by 6-8%.

Weldon says about his future, "I can make money. I could teach. I could work for a think tank. It’s the people of the district who will lose." Maybe Weldon might need to spend some time in a tank of another kind. And a whole lot of Weldon's former constituents feel like they won last night.

And another Razzie to Gil Spencer, for his last lament piece grieving the loss of his pal Weldon. If you were trying to get me to feel sorry for Weldon and his "millionaire" pal Charlie Sexton, it didn't work. Spencer may have a misguided warm spot in his heart for Sexton and Weldon, but I can't get past the corruption that has lined the pockets of these two actors, their friends and families. We need less of this greed and not more of it, and if Spencer wants to romantize corruption, that's just typical Spencer poor judgment and more empty "Spencationalism."

Sestak Victory Party - Nov. 7, 2006!

Just some photos to tell the story of the victory celebration tonight.

The staff - what a team!

















The Sestak family











Just Joe



















If you have a photo that you'd like to see posted here, email to seventh_watch@yahoo.com.

It's All Over, But the Crying

In a total blowout, Joe Sestak has beat Curt Weldon by approximately 30,000 votes in a 57% - 43% sweep.
Highlights include: Curt Weldon lost his OWN precinct of Thornbury East. Weldon was a the polls with his fire truck, but he couldn't put out the fire that Sestak had lit in Weldon's house.
At around 8:15pm (15-minutes after the polls closed) I had already heard that Santorum had conceded. The last I saw, it was a 20 point spread. It may not be enough to take back control of Senate, but PA did it's part.

Haverford Township Democrats had an unprecedented TOTAL sweep of all 4 races in ALL 37 precincts.
Greg Vitali retained his seat with a record setting two to one margin.

I'm writing this from the wireless connection at the Radnor Hotel where the Sestak VICTORY party is in full swing. The place was completely packed and the crowd went wild when Joe appeared. He thanked Weldon for his years of service before launching into his speech and thanking the supporters that got him to this point.

Joe is now part of the MAJORITY party in the House (a MORE powerful position than minority party as Curt would have been).

It's been fun.

Election Eve post - Kick 'em out!

In the Delco Times yesterday...
Bill Bender wraps up the pre-election part of his series with 7th Spotlight: Where do candidates stand? This is an attempt to unravel Sestak's and Weldon's positions and provide real live factual information on the candidates' positions. Well done Bill and I've enjoyed your many articles in the 7th Spotlight.

It ends with the comment on Weldon, "As long as Weldon isn’t indicted after the election..." Yes, that's a big IF! Hey, why take a chance on damaged goods?!

And today...
The Delco Times Editor Phil Heron goes all internet interactive on us!
In today's online edition, Heron asks us to post a comment to his piece: Decision '06: Cast your vote -- and your opinion!

Start the stopwatch. We are now less than 24 hours away from one of the most anticipated elections in Delaware County history.

And we'd like you to be a part of it. You can share your thoughts on the election and this extraordinary "Decision '06."

Simply click on the "Post Comment" link at the bottom of this story. I will review the messages several times during the day and post them to our Web site.

Can Curt Weldon hold off both the challenge of Democrat Joe Sestak as well as the Justice Department probe that has cast a shadow over his campaign in the last few weeks?

Get in there and post your comments! Wow...I'm impressed! What's next? I predict a new Delco Times Blog starting soon. Maybe call it "Heron's Nest"?

Alex Rose's article is a person on the street account, which starts with this quote from someone ready to vote tomorrow, "My plan is to vote Democratic for everything, hopefully just to create some more balance, some more checks and balances for our president..."

I couldn't agree more, and will add this graphic encouragement to Vote for Joe Sestak:

New Leadership

Some new leaders and some current ones.









From left to right in the photo, Nancy Pelosi, Ed Rendell, Joe Sestak, Al Gore, and Bob Casey.

Thanks to all who made the rally in Radnor a fine event. I hope the other rallies were as inspiring in their call to action.

I particularly liked two parts.

One was where Nancy Pelosi described the first 100 hours of activity in a new Democratic-majority Congress, which would include ethics reform, an increase in the federal minimum wage, and enacting the recommendations of the 9/11 commission. There were a few more...does anyone remember the others?

The other was Al Gore, who reminded us of the poor performance of the Congress for the last 6 years, even giving the term "rubber stamp" a bad reputation. Gore pointed out that this Congress has abdicated their responsibility as the body who would provide oversight and control on the power of the executive branch.


Early prediction and my personal favorite team: Gore-Obama 2008.

Weldon's Campaign Life Support: Do Not Resuscitate

According to Bill Bender in today's Delco Times, Weldon decides to scale back TV advertising.

Weldon's campaign seems to have finally realized that the more people see of Weldon, the worst it is, so they are scaling back on advertising. Think about it for a minute, the more coverage Weldon gets, the more people realize what an embarassment they have for a congressman. I think the Sestak campaign should offer it's advertising time to Weldon to run some more Weldon commercials. The ones with his wife and the plea for benefit of the doubt made his look even more guilty (if that is even possible at this point). BTW, is it just me, or does Weldon's wife look like the star of the old TV series: Hazel?

To comment on the reduction of TV advertising..with foot inserted in mouth:

"We’re not pulling anything. We’re scaling a few things back," said Weldon spokesman Michael Puppio.

Feels like he's pulling my leg. The smart money is on Weldon saving his campaign money for his legal defense against the inevitable result of the FBI investigation.

The RNC had already shifted its allotment of air-time over to Gerlach and Fitzpatrick, essentially abandoning Weldon as a waste of further resources. Swirling as well are repeated rumors that the RNC is pulling back on it's crucial 72-hour GOTV opperations for Weldon. Check out these contradicting statements by Matt Burns and Puppio:

Pennsylvania State Committee spokesman Matt Burns denied a Friday report that the Republican National Committee was backing out of its 72-hour operation in Delaware County because it no longer considered the district winnable.

He said the GOP’s get-out-the-vote operation is "full steam ahead for every Republican on the ballot and will be until our candidates are victorious.

[Diano: contrast this with...]

Puppio said the RNC is not involved in the local 72-hour plan.

These guys are so deep in denial they can't get their stories straight.

It would be sad, if it wasn't such a long overdue come-uppance.

All in the family, All quiet on the Weldon front

Today's Delco Times and Philadelphia Inky both ran articles on Mary Weldon's statements supporting Curt and the Weldon kids. While we're sure this is a troubling time and all for Mrs. Weldon, it's important to note that the attacks on her children are not personal attacks, but questions and investigations into their business dealing and connections to possible ethics violations. And they are not "unfounded attacks" as Mrs. Weldon states. These business dealings are well documented and involve public money, campaign contribution, and ethics questions - and deserve public scrutiny. If you want to discuss personal family attacks, one can talk about Curt's challenging how the Sestak family cares for their daughter.

Hurrahs to Delco Times editor Phil Heron for today's Editorial: Weldon won’t clear name by pleading Fifth in the Delco Times questioniong Weldon's silent strategy on not releasing the House Ethics Committee report on their work regarding at least one of these ethics questions. But let's take it a step further. Even if Weldon does release this letter now, you have to remember that it is from the Republican controlled Congress' House Ethics Committee. They declined to pursue this matter. Maybe they had bigger fish to fry (DeLay-Abramoff, Foley, etc.) But the lack of checks and balances in our government today, where the Republicans control at least the executive and legislative branchs, is just one of the compelling reasons to change things in Washington now.

A perusual of the information available on the many Weldon ethics issues, including more details on the Karen Weldon-Charlie Sexton-Serbian "terrorists" visas in the Inky today by a critical-thinking would likely lead to the conclusion that our current Congressman Weldon has violated the spirit, if not the letter, of many ethics laws. No House Ethics Committee letter takes that away.

My opinion is that Weldon got too cocky and figured he would never be challenged for his seat in Congress, so he could get away with this stuff. With the light shining on these dubious dealings, along with the plethora of information on his colleagues engaging in other corruptions, and the presence of a formidable opponent, it just may be the end of the road for the ethically-challenged. And plenty of time for watching TV reruns of "All in the Family" and old movies in the Weldon household.

Don't be overconfident, there's a lot more work to do for Sestak with a few days left!

So there are reports that the NRCC is reallocating the money that they were going to spend on Curt Weldon TV commercials and are "signaling retreat" on Weldon

Don't be fooled! A new Sestak attack ad was just launched.

I've mostly refrained from cheering for Sestak on this blog. But I'm sounding a warning against overconfidence here. We don't want to wake up on Nov. 8 and feel like we were duped by these news reports. Even if the NRCC is punting, Weldon is not giving up and not going quietly into the night. If we want Weldon out, we need a final push, not a kick back on the couch and a cool beverage. Plenty of time for that later.

If you were planning to make some calls, make 'em.
If you were planning on knocking some doors, go knocking.
If you were planning to give a few bucks, what are you waiting for?!
If you were planning to go to one of the rallies, go!

Rally info for Sat. Nov. 4, 2006
Al Gore, Ed Rendell, Bob Casey, Joe State, various state reps / candidates

Brookhaven Borough Hall Gymnasium
Middletown and Cambridge Avenues, Brookhaven
Doors open at 9:00 AM, Rally at 10:00 AM

Cabrini College Main Gym
610 King of Prussia Rd, Radnor, PA
Doors open at 12:30PM, Rally at 1:30 PM

Look for me at the Radnor rally...I'll be the guy with the Sestak sign.

Conservative media often permits no dissent

Why is it that Conservative news media are afraid to let dissenting opinions be heard? Here are examples of what I am talking about. Rush Limbaugh's radio program uses a 3-minute delay so that they can, in effect, turn what is billed as a live show into a stage-managed Limbaugh rump-kissing phantasmagoria. If an intelligent voice of dissent does get through the screeners they just dump the call and then build their delay back up at the next break. Of course, every once in a while a dissenter gets through but it is always someone so limited in their verbal abilities that Limbaugh makes them look stupid. That is because they have been hand-picked victims to feed to Limbaugh.

I have also noticed that some Conservative Blogs NEVER have dissenting commentary to their posts. That must be because they do not permit direct posting but, rather, review posts prior to allowing them to be posted. I have registered on several openly Conservative blogs and "so-called" internet-only news sites and have tried to post dissent to no avail. What are they afraid of? If they are right, why do they not have the true courage of their convictions to allow dissent?

I am proud that this blog, though openly pro-Sestak (for increasingly valid reasons since its inception), there are numerous posts of comments that are openly pro-Weldon. Truth is never afraid of words, no matter how inflammatory.

NYT: Weldon in Italian Romp, paid for by US taxpayers

The New York Times today digs a little deeper on the Finmeccanica - Curt Weldon - Kim Weldon - other lobbyists and assorted quid-pro-quo-ers activities. The story starts with this romp ...

In November at the five-star Hotel Splendido overlooking the harbor in Portofino, a playground of the Italian rich, Representative Curt Weldon was the center of attention.

The second-ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Mr. Weldon was a main speaker at a conference sponsored in part by the Italian military giant Finmeccanica. At the gathering of Italian, British and American political leaders, Mr. Weldon, of Pennsylvania, spoke on behalf of Italian arms makers who were seeking a bigger share of Pentagon contracts.

Taxpayers paid for Mr. Weldon’s stay. He received a $1,153 daily expense allowance from the federal government and flew over on a military jet.

For Mr. Weldon, the conference was a victory lap. After several years of promoting Italian military contractors, the Italians had scored some big victories at the Pentagon. But Mr. Weldon’s efforts were equally beneficial for his district, his family, his friends and his campaign coffers.
...
A Finmeccanica subsidiary, together with Lockheed Martin, upset an American competitor to land the $1.7 billion contract to build the next Marine One presidential helicopter.
...
Mr. Weldon’s relationship with the Italians has been mutually beneficial. His daughter Kim, 29, a former social worker, was hired by AgustaWestland, the Finmeccanica subsidiary that won the Marine One contract, shortly after her father’s speech in Portofino.

More than 10 Americans at Finmeccanica subsidiaries in the United States, along with their spouses, were among the biggest contributors to Mr. Weldon’s campaign in 2006. Their combined donations of $20,400 edged out donations from American giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

A Finmeccanica subsidiary, Oto Melara, whose 76 Super Rapid gun Mr. Weldon has championed, last year hired his close friend Cecelia Grimes, a former real estate agent, and paid her $60,000 as a federal lobbyist. Ms. Grimes has no previous Washington lobbying experience and no Washington office.

Ah, the tangled Weldon-woven web. A nice trip to Portofino, a nice big government contract for Finmeccanica, a nice job for Kim Weldon, a nice lobbyist contract for Ms. Grimes, and a few big fat contributions for Curt. Business as usual here in PA-7 land...for a few more days at least.