The voters proved Governor Ed Rendell to be more prophet than cheerleader when he predicted big Democratic gains in an Erie rally just days before the election.
Now that the balloons are being popped and the confetti is being swept off the floor, we have a clearer picture of just how voter disgust played out this year.
True to the polling data, Governor Ed Rendell and US Senate candidate Bob Casey Jr. cruised to easy victories, expected in Rendell’s case but a touch surprising for the state treasurer.
The Casey campaign went into something of a prevent defense in the final weeks, staying under the radar and even politely asking John Kerry to avoid campaigning in Pennsylvania.
Santorum on the other hand went into attack mode, pointing to growing troubles in places like North Korea and Iran and visiting this corner of the state four times in the last ten days of the race.
Nationally, the Bush administration’s handling of foreign affairs, particularly the war in Iraq, proved to be a strong selling point for Democrats, and Santorum may have made a bad problem worse by beating the same drum.
The state House races can be summed up in two words: pay raise.
The ill-advised attempt by lawmakers to grant themselves a late night 16 percent pay hike not only rallied an anti-incumbent movement, it actually led to a number of candidates entering the races.
That was true of democrat John Hornaman, who at the time of this writing appears to have upset incumbent Matthew Good in the 3rd District by less than two hundred votes.
Hornaman presented himself to voters as a regular guy, which he may well be, but his campaign was not a rookie’s endeavor, backed by County Executive Mark Divecchio.
In the 5th district, Republican John Evans also felt the voter’s ire over the pay raise, but survived an ousting in part because he sold his contriteness better to voters and in part because he had three candidates splitting the anti-incumbent vote.
If there is a lesson to be learned from Campaign 2006 it may well be this:
Voters are slow to anger and even slower to do anything about it, but there is a limit, and those who cross that line do so at their own peril.
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