Hillary gets by with a little
help from her friends in NE Philly

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama easily carried the city of Philadelphia in last week’s Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary, but Northeast voters overwhelmingly favored New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Clinton won the state with 55 percent of the vote and picked up more delegates than Obama, narrowing his lead in the overall count.
In Philadelphia, Obama captured 65 percent of the vote, piling up more than 90 percent of the vote in a couple of predominantly black wards.
In the 14 wards that make up the Northeast, Clinton cruised with 64 percent of the vote.
Obama — who campaigned door-to-door in West Mayfair with U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy on the Saturday before the April 22 election — won the 23rd and 35th wards, based in Frankford and Lawndale.
Clinton won the other 12 wards, including close margins in the 53rd Ward in Castor Gardens and the 62nd Ward in Oxford Circle and Wissinoming.
The wife of former President Bill Clinton — who made an Election Day campaign stop at the Robert B. Pollock School on Welsh Road — she easily won 10 wards. She did best in the 58th Ward, made up of Somerton and Bustleton, racking up 77 percent of the vote.
On the Republican side, Arizona Sen. John McCain has already captured enough delegates to clinch the nomination. He took 73 percent of the vote statewide. Texas Rep. Ron Paul received 16 percent, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee taking 11 percent.

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In other contests, Pennsylvania voters nominated candidates for attorney general, auditor general and treasurer.
Attorney General Tom Corbett, a Republican, was unopposed, as was Democrat John Morganelli, the district attorney of Northampton County.
Both candidates for auditor general were unopposed. The incumbent, Democrat Jack Wagner, will face Republican Chet Beiler.
In the treasurer’s race, former Montgomery County Commissioner Tom Ellis was unopposed for the Republican nomination.
Montgomery County businessman Rob McCord, who ran countless television commercials, easily won the Democratic nomination with 43 percent of the vote. Bucks County Democratic Committee chairman and former state Rep. John Cordisco was the runner-up with 26 percent, followed by state Rep. Jennifer Mann with 24 percent and financial adviser Dennis Morrison-Wesley with 7 percent.

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The four Democratic incumbents who represent parts of the Northeast in the U.S. House of Representatives and their Republican challengers were unopposed in the primary.
The November matchups will be Rep. Bob Brady (D-1st dist.) vs. Mike Muhammad; Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-2nd dist.) vs. Mike Livingston; Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-8th dist.) vs. Tom Manion; and Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-13th dist.) vs. Marina Kats.

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State Sens. Shirley Kitchen (D-3rd dist.) and Mike Stack (D-5th dist.) and their Republican opponents were unopposed in the primary.
In November, Kitchen will take on Robert S. Nix, while Stack will face John Farley.
Kitchen and Stack endorsed Larry Farnese, who defeated John Dougherty and Anne Dicker in the 1st Senatorial District Democratic primary. Farnese is favored in the fall to replace longtime Democrat Sen. Vince Fumo, who is not seeking re-election and is facing trial in the fall on federal corruption charges,
Fumo backed Farnese to prevent his bitter enemy, Dougherty, from replacing him. Stack, a Fumo ally, donated $75,000 to Farnese.

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There were no contests in nine of the 11 districts that include parts of the Northeast.
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.) were unopposed in the primary and have no opponent in the general election.
O’Brien conducted an apparently successful write-in campaign to win a spot on the Democratic ticket, beating Ed Kaiser, 1,376 to 415. Three-hundred valid signatures are required.
Besides the matchups in the 172nd and 179th districts that were determined last week, other November contests will feature: 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.

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City voters overwhelmingly approved two proposed amendments to the Home Rule Charter.
They backed a measure to separate the functions of the Department of Commerce and the Office of the City Representative by 70 percent to 30 percent.
A question to allow for additional management-level deputies, exempt from civil service, in city departments won approval by 61 percent to 39 percent. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com