The Ybor City Stogie

PENNSYLVANIA: PROBLEMS FOR THE GOP?

Analysts looking at Tuesday's shocking primary -- a day in which an astounding 15 state legislative incumbents lost their primaries (nearly all Republicans) -- could be a bad omen in the state for Republicans in November. The vote was largely a backlash by GOP primary voters against GOP incumbents who backed unpopular, hefty payraises for themselves. Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer (R), who lost his primary, called Tuesday "a dramatic earthquake in Pennsylvania." Club for Growth President Pat Toomey (R-PA), a former Congressman, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the "message you have to take away is that rank-and-file Republican voters are very angry with incumbents. It's a mistake to conclude this was all about the pay raise. This has been brewing for some time and it's about dissatisfaction with elected Republicans who have abandoned a commitment to limited government." Toomey went on to explain to the New York Times that angry Republicans were free to express their disgust with Republican incumbents in the primary by voting for challengers -- but that he expected many of these angry Republicans to simply stay home in November because they don't want to vote for Democrats. Toomey also added that many Republicans serving in Congress had "lost their way" by backing "a fiscal culture of deficits and pork barrel spending." In another interesting development, it appears over 21,000 Republicans who voted on Tuesday skipped the top of the ballot by declining to vote for US Senator Rick Santorum (R) in his unopposed primary -- although these same voters cast ballots for Lynn Swann for Governor in his unopposed primary.......More