PA-12: ‘Implications’ Is the New ‘Gravitas’

posted at 9:31 am on May 18, 2010 by The Other McCain
[ Elections ]   

Race for Murtha’s seat could have national implications
– CNN

“Potential national implications will be gleaned from the vote tally today in the special election for Pennsylvania’s 12th district . . .”
– Real Clear Politics

“. . . the high stakes here in Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district, in a race that is being watched nationally for its implications for the November midterms.”
– Washington Post

Cliches have a way of being true, but you’d think some of these people might think to grab a thesaurus and use “ramifications” or “significance” or some other way of saying the same thing. At any rate, I’m on the road this morning for my fourth trip to Pennsylvania’s 12th District, providing Election Day coverage of this key, crucial, critical and otherwise pretty doggone important special election.

The polls show a statistical tie, and Dave Weigel at the Washington Post suspects Democrats are feeling confident, but they may just be playing the expectations implications game. From my column today at The American Spectator:

Debbie Lee came all the way from Arizona to campaign for Tim Burns. She was “deployed” to western Pennsylvania on behalf of Moving America Forward, a pro-military organization “committed to supporting America’s efforts to defeat terrorism,” and she brought with her a $5,000 check for the Burns campaign from the group’s political action committee.
Lee is a “Gold Star Mother” whose son, a Navy SEAL, was killed in a 2006 firefight in Iraq. She praised Burns as “a candidate who understands and will uphold the Constitution and who recognizes the sacrifices our troops make.”
In the battle for Pennsylvania’s 12th District, Lee is one member of a veritable of army of volunteers fighting to elect a Republican to the seat held for more than three decades by the late Democrat John Murtha. For weeks, volunteers have stuffed envelopes, manned phone banks and walked precincts, and today they’ll make the final push to get their voters to the polls in a special election that many observers are calling a crucial test of whether the GOP can win back the House of Representatives in November.
On the eve of this key election, only one man was willing to predict the final result. “I can assure you, we’re going to have a victory tomorrow,” Burns said in an interview on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program Monday night. . . .

Please read the whole thing. And wish me luck in PA-12 today, where the weather is cool and overcast, with a 52% chance of widely scattered national implications.

PREVIOUSLY:

• May 15 – VIDEO: New PA-12 Ad for Tim Burns
• May 9 – PA-12: Code Red Calls for Volunteers, Eight Days Before Pennsylvania Special Election
• May 2 – PA-12 Special Report: Behind the Scenes of the Pennsylvania Patriot Revolution
• April 30 – PA-12: Tim Burns vs. Murthanomics

Blowback