All about the Benjamins
Sen. Barack Obama was the champion fundraiser nationally during the first half of the year, but his colleague and rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton was in first place in Pennsylvania receipts after the second quarter.
Reflecting a national pattern this year, the Democratic presidential candiates collectively did much better than the Republican contenders as only former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani managed to crack the top five in Keystone state receipts.
In the Pittsburgh region, however, Mr. Giuliani, who had two fundraisers, one in Washington County and one at the Duquesne Club on June 27, during the final week of the reporting period, had the largest total. He was followed by Mitt Romney, who had one Duquesne Club fund-raiser in April and another on June 28, the day after Mr. Giuliani was in town. Sen. Jospeh Biden had the largest total of Pittsburgh region contributions among the Democrats, followed by Sen. Barack Obama with $72,779. The latter figures suggest that local Obama organizers were somewhat hyperbolic in projecting the yield from a June 20 fundraiser at the Rivers Club. After the lunchtime event, Cliff Levine estimated its yield at $150,000, a figure considerably north of the actual harvest.
Here, according to a compilation by the Center for Responsive Politics, is a digest of the state and region totals for the first half of 2007.
Pennsylvania
Democrats
Hillary Clinton $1,116,213
Barack Obama $954,810
Joseph R. Biden Jr. $605,410
John Edwards $440,113
Bill Richardson $196,365
Christopher J. Dodd $75,050
Thomas J. Vilsack $61,700
Dennis J. Kucinich $1,550
Mike Gravel $1,300
Republicans
Rudolph W. Giuliani $734,339
Mitt Romney $352,038
John McCain $338,433
Sam Brownback $86,582
Ron Paul $39,315
Tom Tancredo $8,990
Jim Gilmore $4,850
Duncan Hunter $3,300
Tommy Thompson $2,550
Mike Huckabee $750
Total to All Candidates
: $5,025,208
Pittsburgh region
Democrats
Joseph R. Biden Jr. $83,275
Barack Obama $72,779
John Edwards $49,865
Hillary Clinton $47,500
Thomas J. Vilsack $41,400
Bill Richardson $21,050
Christopher J. Dodd $4,800
Republicans
Rudolph W. Giuliani $143,500
Mitt Romney $100,650
Sam Brownback $22,120
John McCain $19,528
Ron Paul $5,200
Tom Tancredo $2,440
Duncan Hunter $2,175
Tommy Thompson $500
Bob Casey doesn't snore
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, entered the Senate's LBJ room early this morning, looking for a cot and a chance to nap during a rare overnight debate on the Iraq war.
"There was one kind of blob in the corner. And I'm trying to figure out, who is it? Who is sleeping over there? It was none other than Bob Casey," she told reporters today.
She also jokingly berated the reporter who asked about the encounter.
"Are you starting a rumor that we slept together?"
Quite the opposite: "I took a cot on the opposite side of the room, as far away from him as I could get. Because it was a little weird."
Pennsylvania's junior senator was the first lawmaker to take advantage of LBJ cots. He slept for about an hour.
"I picked the one beneath the portrait of Thomas Jefferson. I figured that was safe," he told reporters. "He was watching over me while I slept."
Ms. McCaskill wasn't comfortable, so she left, waking Mr. Casey on the way out. She apologized to him.
"That's a reasonably accurate summary," Mr. Casey said.
Libertarian alert
The national committee of the Libertarian Party is heading to Pittsburgh this weekend for its quarterly board meeting, and the government better not tell them what to do.
One item on the party's official agenda is to assess the city as a possible venue for a national convention of the party in 2010 or 2012, an event that could draw as may as 1,000 delegates and guests. William Redpath, the party national chairman, will talk about that and other issues in a Saturday news conference in the Hilton Hotel.
Salary salvation
To all those state workers who had to stay home last Monday: "Quit yer bellyachin."
State employees furloughed for one day last week during the state's bitter budget debate will not lose any money, Gov. Ed Rendell said today.
The 24,000 employees, who were deemed nonessential, were laid off July 9 when legislators and the governor were unable to finalize a state budget. They returned the next day when leaders reached a late-night agreement on the $27 billion spending plan.
"I am glad to announce that all state employees who were furloughed will be compensated," Mr. Rendell said in a news release. "State employees work very hard to ensure that the needs of Pennsylvanians are met and they and their families rely on their paychecks to pay their bills. It is fair and reasonable that they be paid for the hours they didn't work due to the furlough.
"Nobody wanted a furlough but, fortunately, we were able to bring all employees back to work the next day."
And how many employees work for the state? Maybe half of them.
English challenger
Erie County Councilman Kyle Foust added his name to a growing list of Democrats eager to challenge Republican Rep. Phil English in Pennsylvania's third congressional district. Foust sent along the following statement:
"After spending the last couple of months talking with families, small business owners and community leaders throughout the third district I have learned just how tired Pennsylvania families are with Phil English's leadership and how strong their hope for a change in direction is. Our community deserves a leader who will stand up to leadership, regardless of partisan ties and fight for what is best for our families. Fight for a change in direction in Iraq, fight for an education system that gives our teachers the resources they need to teach our children, fight for a healthcare system that benefits individuals and businesses, and fight for cheaper prices at the pump. I believe we can return to a time when politicians shared our values, rather than sharing the values of their partisan leaders in Washington -- I will always fight for hardworking Pennsylvania families."
First Published: July 18, 2007, 9:30 p.m.
