PA Senate matter with National Implications

[DGS49]

Conor Lamb's challenge: Build his name. Take down John Fetterman. And do it all with less money.

Conor Lamb has two big problems. To win Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate nomination, he has to catch John Fetterman. And he has to do it with less...

www.post-gazette.com

My home state of Pennsylvania has an interesting and clear history in state-wide elections. It is this: The Democrats hold a majority of the voters, but a large swath of those Democrats will not vote for a whack-job. If the Democrats run someone who is not a whack-job, they will win.

The race to replace outgoing Senator Pat Toomey is the case in point. The two most viable candidates are John Fetterman and Conor Lamb.

To be blunt, Conor Lamb is the sort of Democrat who would win in Pennsylvania. He is handsome, articulate, has a great resume (veteran), and is decidedly not a whack-job.

On the other hand, you have John Fetterman. Fetterman is an interesting human being to be sure. A Harvard-educated do-gooder (and I'm not disparaging him with that description), he took it upon himself for many years to be the self-funded mayor of the extremely depressed, majority Black little hamlet of Braddock, PA. The job "paid" a couple hundred dollars a month, but JF has a bit of family money behind him, so he was able to do the Mayor thing full-time, and from all indications he did a pretty good job of it, winning several terms when one would have considered it extremely unlikely that a white man could win that job. FWIW, he is a giant of a man at 6'8" tall who is known for attending public functions in non-traditional attire. I think they had to tie him down to get him to wear a suit and tie on Inauguration Day.

Fetterman is the current Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, and his most conspicuous duty in that office has been to explore legalization of marijuana. He is NOT an articulate speaker, and one would almost think that the local Media protects him in that shortcoming, as he is never quoted to a greater extent than for a phrase or two - maybe a single sentence. His handlers are now deciding whether to enter him into the obligatory series of Democrat candidate debates, because - I'm speculating here - he will not look good.

So here's the bottom line: Pennsylvania Democrats could make this Senate seat a virtual certainty by nominating Conor Lamb. One CANNOT dislike Lamb, even though he is a Democrat. Fetterman is a complete cipher. Only his intimates know how he will fare in a public, well-publicized campaign, but his conspicuous lack of public speaking skills could hurt him, as well as the general impression that he might be a Left wing whack job. As indicated in the linked article Fetterman has a lot more money in the bank right now than Lamb, but one suspects that the national party sees this election more clearly than the Pennsylvania democrat party, which has a habit of nominating unelectable extremists for state-wide office.

Go Fetterman!

 

[Polishprince]

Lt. Gov. Fetterman is a phony, I think they people will see right through him, at least I hope they do. Like you point out , he's in reality a Harvard man but dresses in a costume 24/7 to make himself look like a mill hunky. Out of staters might not be so familiar with this doofus, although they might get a load of him pretty soon.

His principle issue , his pet peeve, over the last several years since he became 2nd fiddle in Harrisburg is his crusade for legal grass.

 

[JWBooth]

Hang on, you both know that thoughtful posts with objective observation are not permitted. Thread should be deleted.




/sarcasm
Good job.

 

[DGS49]

I don't think Fetterman is a phony. He is an honest, forthright human who wants to make this a better world. He and his wife are constantly engaged in community service, most of which is unpaid. My only point is that he is not politically adorable.

 

[kyzr]

I don't think Fetterman is a phony. He is an honest, forthright human who wants to make this a better world. He and his wife are constantly engaged in community service, most of which is unpaid. My only point is that he is not politically adorable.

Conor Lamb is more acceptable to PA voters than hard left candidates. That said, 2022 and 2024 should be Republican wipe outs of democrats. Conor Lamb or Fetterman should lose to Dr Oz, or Dave McCormick. McCormick checks the veteran box like Lamb, but unlike Lamb he went into combat in Iraq. Conor was a military lawyer. Dr. Oz is very popular to women voters and leads the betting odds over Fetterman. Apparently Fetterman is the democrat "machine's" pick:

 

[DGS49]

The first highly-public debate just concluded. I am even more convinced that Lamb would be the better candidate to face whoever wins the Republican primary. There is a third guy, a Black guy from north Philly, but I think he's in single digits, state-wide.

This is a primary, though, and Fetterman is more convincing when he spouts the current party lines. Lamb comes across as a reasonable fellow and I'm not sure that will motivate the Democrats to support him.

As a Republican, I love it.

 

[eagle7-31]

Conor Lamb's challenge: Build his name. Take down John Fetterman. And do it all with less money.

Conor Lamb has two big problems. To win Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate nomination, he has to catch John Fetterman. And he has to do it with less...

www.post-gazette.com

My home state of Pennsylvania has an interesting and clear history in state-wide elections. It is this: The Democrats hold a majority of the voters, but a large swath of those Democrats will not vote for a whack-job. If the Democrats run someone who is not a whack-job, they will win.

The race to replace outgoing Senator Pat Toomey is the case in point. The two most viable candidates are John Fetterman and Conor Lamb.

To be blunt, Conor Lamb is the sort of Democrat who would win in Pennsylvania. He is handsome, articulate, has a great resume (veteran), and is decidedly not a whack-job.

On the other hand, you have John Fetterman. Fetterman is an interesting human being to be sure. A Harvard-educated do-gooder (and I'm not disparaging him with that description), he took it upon himself for many years to be the self-funded mayor of the extremely depressed, majority Black little hamlet of Braddock, PA. The job "paid" a couple hundred dollars a month, but JF has a bit of family money behind him, so he was able to do the Mayor thing full-time, and from all indications he did a pretty good job of it, winning several terms when one would have considered it extremely unlikely that a white man could win that job. FWIW, he is a giant of a man at 6'8" tall who is known for attending public functions in non-traditional attire. I think they had to tie him down to get him to wear a suit and tie on Inauguration Day.

Fetterman is the current Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, and his most conspicuous duty in that office has been to explore legalization of marijuana. He is NOT an articulate speaker, and one would almost think that the local Media protects him in that shortcoming, as he is never quoted to a greater extent than for a phrase or two - maybe a single sentence. His handlers are now deciding whether to enter him into the obligatory series of Democrat candidate debates, because - I'm speculating here - he will not look good.

So here's the bottom line: Pennsylvania Democrats could make this Senate seat a virtual certainty by nominating Conor Lamb. One CANNOT dislike Lamb, even though he is a Democrat. Fetterman is a complete cipher. Only his intimates know how he will fare in a public, well-publicized campaign, but his conspicuous lack of public speaking skills could hurt him, as well as the general impression that he might be a Left wing whack job. As indicated in the linked article Fetterman has a lot more money in the bank right now than Lamb, but one suspects that the national party sees this election more clearly than the Pennsylvania democrat party, which has a habit of nominating unelectable extremists for state-wide office.

Go Fetterman!

I generally agree with your points. Fetterman still leads in the polls at the moment, on the GOP side I am not happy with anyone running so by process of elimination I am voting for Kathy Barnett.