Monday, July 31, 2006
Diamond quits, Santorum shifts gears
Russ Diamond abandoned his bid today to become an independent candidate for Pennsylvania governor after garnering just 38,322 of the 67,070 signatures he would need to get on the Nov. 7 ballot."You can go ahead and call this race," the Annville businessman and former musician told the Associated Press.
Diamond's announcement came a day before the state deadline for filing petitions. Pennsylvania requires a overly heavy burden for independent statewide candidates - mandating that they receive at least 2 percent of the top vote getter in the last statewide election.
Republican and Democratic candidates need only garner 2,000 signatures of registered voters to get their names on the ballot.
Although Diamond vowed to remain politically active, he has filed papers to dissolve PaCleanSweep. The reform-minded group he founded can claim at least some credit for the defeat of 17 incumbent legislators in May following last year's pay raise debacle.
"Time will tell what's able to rise from the ashes," Diamond said.
Diamond's campaign Web site was changed last night to read, "Thank you for helping us collect 38,322 signatures. In any other year, it would have been more than enough. We'll be posting the top circulators here within a few days. Meanwhile, please consider helping us pay the bills."
PaCleanSweep's Web site did not mention the group is disbanding.
The bar was set unusually high for Diamond this year because of the record 3.4 million votes Democrat Bob Casey was elected state treasurer in 2004. Casey is now running against U.S. Senator Rick Santorum in the November election, and is far ahead in most polls.
Despite the Democrat's popularity, Santorum claimed Monday that Casey was running on name recognition alone. His late father, Robert Casey Sr., was a two-term governor from 1987 to 1995.
"When you elected Rick Santorum, you didn't elect someone who came from a proud political legacy. You didn't elect someone who had a great name in Pennsylvania politics," he said.
Meanwhile, Republican donors apparently contributed the $100,000 Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, of Wilkes-Barre, said he spent while gathering signatures to get on the ballot.
The move is an apparent attempt to siphon liberal support away from Casey. It's not the first time the national GOP has tried this here.
In 2004, Republicans started filling independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader's coffers in the hopes he would get on the statewide ballot and steal votes from John Kerry.It didn't work then. It won't work now.
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The Daily Rant by Dave Ralis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
The Daily Rant by Dave Ralis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
