Clinton carrying bulk
of support in primary
By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
Barack Obama has a chance to deliver the knockout blow to Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s primary election.
The two are battling for the Democratic presidential nomination, with Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, holding a lead in delegates.
Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York and wife of former President Bill Clinton, once held big leads in Pennsylvania polls, but the race has tightened. There were signs that the former first lady would benefit from Obama’s controversial comments that some small-town Pennsylvanians were "bitter" because of job losses and therefore held anti-immigrant and anti-trade sentiments and clinged to guns and religion.
If Obama prevails, Democrats will likely pressure the former first lady to abandon her campaign. But, if Clinton holds on to win, the campaign will turn to primaries in Indiana and North Carolina on May 6.
Despite the fact that no contests have been held since March 4, neither Obama nor Clinton has bothered to visit Northeast Philadelphia.
Clinton is expected to win overwhelmingly in the Northeast, where most ward leaders will be backing her.
"If she learned anything from her husband, she’ll be super," said Mike McAleer, Democratic leader of Ward 66B.
Other Clinton supporters include U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, former Rep. Bob Borski, City Controller Alan Butkovitz, City Commissioner Marge Tartaglione, state Sen. Tina Tartaglione, state Reps. Mike McGeehan and John Sabatina Jr., City Councilwomen Maria Quinones-Sanchez, Joan Krajewski and Marian Tasco, Councilmen Frank DiCicco and Darrell Clarke.
Supporters of Obama include U.S. Reps. Patrick Murphy and Chaka Fattah, state Reps. Mark Cohen and Tony Payton and state Sen. Shirley Kitchen.
Remaining neutral is U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, chairman of the Democratic City Committee and a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention.
Clinton appears to be making much more of a push in the Northeast than Obama. A bus from Manhattan brought dozens of volunteers on Sunday to the Northeast Democrats headquarters at Frankford Avenue and Meridian Street.
The Clinton supporters held "Honk for Hillary" signs and distributed literature to area homes. Similar rallies have been taking place in Mayfair and at the Frankford Transportation Center.
On Tuesday afternoon, Clinton held a telephone conference call with reporters from weekly newspapers, including the Times. She spoke of economic development, leadership, her plan to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq 60 days after taking office and her proposal to hire 100,000 police officers.
Asked whether she supported a measure introduced by state Rep. John Perzel that would add 10,000 officers across Pennsylvania, with funding shared by the state and municipalities, she maintained that the federal government would be the better partner.
"A lot of local communities don’t have the funds," she told the Times, adding that her plan includes flexibility for municipalities to purchase police equipment and technology.
Pennsylvania will send 188 delegates to the convention in Denver in August. Of that total, 103 will be selected on Tuesday by voting in congressional districts.
Here is a breakdown of delegate candidates in each of the local congressional districts, including the presidential candidates to whom they are committed:
• 1st district: Clinton: Alan Butkovitz, Lynne Abraham, Maria Quinones-Sanchez, Angel Cruz, John Street. Obama: Mark Cohen, Janet Ryder, Humberto Perez, Eileen Young-Vignola, Thaddeus Kirkland, Ruthellen Landau, Tony Payton.
• 2nd district: Clinton: Happy Fernandez, Jerry Jordan, Jerome Mondesire, Marian Tasco, Blondell Reynolds Brown, Michael Nutter, Cherelle Parker. Obama: Wilhelmina Moore, Cindy Bass, Vincent Hughes, Bernard Anderson, Molly Armour, Krista Nelson, Christopher Booth, Cheryl Mobley-Stimpson, Josh Uresky.
• 8th district: Clinton: Louise Boyd, Bonnie Chang, Gregory Holt, Pamela Janvey, Louis Farinella, Joseph Sellers, Helene Ratner. Obama: Sheldon Motley, Jules Mermelstein, Clare McCann, Neil Samuels, Ann Hadfield, Ann Crawford-Roberts, Kathy McQuarrie.
• 13th district: Clinton: Catherine Scott, Lorraine Bednarek, Karen Lloyd Borski, Ted Kirsch, Joseph Hoeffel, Caren Moskowitz, Pat Eiding. Obama: Jeffrey Fread, Lorraine Dennis, Ann Thornburg Weiss, Nathan Kleinman, Evelyn Sample Oates, Harold Berk, Analisa O’Connor.
On the Republican side, Arizona Sen. John McCain has collected enough delegates to win the nomination. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee remain on the ballot.
GOP voters will also choose members of the Republican State Committee.
Primaries will be held for three statewide offices: attorney general, auditor general and treasurer.
Attorney General Tom Corbett, a Republican, is unopposed. His general election opponent will be Democrat John Morganelli, district attorney of Northampton County.
Auditor General Jack Wagner, a Democrat, has no primary opposition. He’ll face Republican Chet Beiler in November.
In the race for treasurer, the sole Republican candidate is Tom Ellis, a former Montgomery County commissioner. The Democratic race features four candidates: state Rep. Jennifer Mann, Bucks County Democratic Committee chairman and former state Rep. John Cordisco, Montgomery County businessman Rob McCord and financial adviser Dennis Morrison-Wesley.
The four incumbents who represent portions of the Northeast in the U.S. House of Representatives and their challengers are unopposed in the primary.
The fall matchups will be Rep. Bob Brady (D-1st dist.) vs. Republican Mike Muhammad; Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-2nd dist.) vs. Republican Mike Livingston; Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-8th dist.) vs. Republican Tom Manion; and Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-13th dist.) vs. Republican Marina Kats.
State Sens. Shirley Kitchen (D-3rd dist.) and Mike Stack (D-5th dist.) are unopposed in the primary.
In the fall, Kitchen will face Republican Robert S. Nix, while Stack will take on Republican John Farley.
Kitchen and Stack have endorsed Larry Farnese in the 1st Senatorial District race that also includes John Dougherty and Anne Dicker.
While the 172nd and 179th legislative districts have Democratic primaries, there is no action in the nine other Pennsylvania House of Representatives districts that include portions of the Northeast.
In fact, Speaker Dennis O’Brien (R-169th dist.) and Reps. Larry Curry (D-154th dist.), John Sabatina Jr. (D-174th dist.), Mark Cohen (D-202nd dist.) and Dwight Evans (D-203rd dist.) are unopposed in the primary and general elections.
The matchups in four districts are set: Rep. Tom Murt (R-152nd dist.) vs. Democrat Lisa Romaniello; Democrat Brendan Boyle vs. Republican Matt Taubenberger in the 170th district; Rep. Mike McGeehan (D-173rd dist.) vs. Republican Belinda Nelson; and Rep. John Taylor (R-177th dist.) vs. Democrat Harry Enggasser.
City voters will decide on two proposed amendments to the Home Rule Charter.
One question reads, "Shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to separate and further define the functions of the City Representative and the Commerce Department?"
The other reads, "In order to provide the Mayor with flexibility to enhance government operations, shall the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter be amended to allow for additional management-level deputies, exempt from civil service, in City departments?"
Because of Passover, the polling place for four divisions in Somerton’s 58th Ward has been moved from Congregation Beth Solomon to the nearby Golden Gate banquet hall, at 11058 Rennard St.
The divisions that are moving are the 12th, 33rd, 34th and 38th.
For more information, call 215-686-1523. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 2o15-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com