Each step on the campaign trail is bringing candidates closer to the White House, and on Super Duper Tuesday voters in more than 20 states will go to the polls.

Presidential candidates are working to win over as many undecided voters as they can before the big day. However, the shape of the primary calendar suggests that the presidential nominating race could be over before Pennsylvanians get the chance to vote.

Political pundits and experts around DC are naming Tsunami Tuesday as a truly historic moment in the history of American politics.

But Pennsylvanians are left out of the excitement because the state decided not to change its traditional spring primary date. It will be the last of the nation’s most populous states to hold its primary.

If PA had moved the primary up, it would be a big player in the early primary races. But don’t discount the Keystone State’s significance. Each party’s candidate will hopefully be trekking through Pennsylvania to win the states electoral votes later this year.

In the past week alone, hot candidates dropped out of the race and endorsements have been flying out of the hands of some of the nation’s most prominent lawmakers.

A few weeks ago our local Congressman Phil English backed his favorite candidate. He told me outside his Washington office that he was supporting Rudy Giuliani. Since then, Giuliani dropped out. It just goes to show you how quickly everything is happening. I’m sure English wouldn’t have backed a candidate he expected to lose.

Perhaps to avoid that situation Congressman John Peterson and Pennsylvania Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey have not made any endorsements yet. (Despite my constant calls as well as the nagging of other regional reporters in Washington.)

This past Monday, Specter told me that he will endorse a candidate, but he’s waiting until the time is just right. Pennsylvania lawmakers could be waiting for the results of Super Duper Tuesday before they make their pick.

It’s tough to say what the impact of the big day is going to be. Sure, two candidates could come out as definite frontrunners. But let’s not forget that there are votes (like Pennsylvania’s) to be won after Tuesday.

Many of us that are watching these nominating contests so closely are hoping that Super Duper Tuesday can still lead to suspense filled brokered conventions later this year. But at this point, I'm not positive we should bet on it.

With the bombshell news that Mitt Romney quit the race to the White House, it looks like John McCain just effectively snatched the Republican nomination.

Romney said he suspended his campaign in order to help the GOP win in November.

A year after Romney’s formal entrance in the race. He’s spent his time trying to get the support of conservatives with his “family values campaign.” But the other candidates charged him with flip-flopping and voters questioned his Mormon faith.

And just weeks ago we thought the Republicans could be divided until the conventions and that the Democrats would pick their nominee quickly. But the opposite happened.

It seems like stepping down was the reasonable thing for Romney to do. McCain was leading the delegate race by hundreds. But would conservatives rather stay home than vote for him?

Well, amnesty and McCain-Feingold aside, conservative voters would surely prefer to have McCain in the White House than Clinton or Obama. So, now John McCain has no choice but to unite the Republican Party. He has to lead the GOP and the conservative movement. And he has plenty of time to get cracking since now he’s in position for the general election while the Dems are still busy duking it out. (Which by the way means PA primary voters won’t really count on the Republican side but they might on the Democratic side!)

Sure, Mike Huckabee is still in the race after winning several states on Super Duper Tuesday. But if he’s smart and wants to maintain the possibility of being selected as McCain’s running mate, he is going to have to drop out fairly soon as well.

Romney’s demise might be great for McCain but I don't think it's exactly good news for Obama and Clinton. McCain will be a tougher opponent to beat than Romney would have been. The Democrats still have a tight race ahead, and neither Obama nor Clinton has a clear advantage yet.

Clinton or Obama? You might get to make the pick.

The two Democratic challengers are still neck-and-neck in the race for their party’s nomination, and that means Pennsylvania Democrats might be perfectly positioned to break a tie.

The state primary was dismissed months ago as too late to make a difference. But the 24-state “Super Tuesday” didn’t produce a definitive frontrunner, and the primaries between now and Pennsylvania’s April 22nd primary might not either.

PA is the largest state that has yet to hold a primary, making it a key battleground because of the great amount of delegates at stake.

After Mississippi’s primary election on March 11th there are no other primaries in the six weeks leading up to Pennsylvania’s. So the state would be able to hog the candidates, with no competition from other states.

This could mean Iowa-style campaigning. With candidates at your local coffee shop, and television crews stomping through your neighborhoods.

State Republicans are less likely to have any serious say in picking their nominee. Sen. John McCain has effectively clinched the nomination.

So after all the back and forth and finger pointing about not moving our primary up, it looks like dumb luck has brought us to this--a primary that really matters. Let’s just remember that a lot can still change between now and April 22nd, and we could wind up right back where we started--with a good for nothing role in the game known as presidential nominating politics.

It seems like the President might need a bit of a reminder that despite what Al Gore says, global warming alone isn't going to keep us all warm.

Bush announced his budget for 2009 earlier this month, and in it he proposed cutting several programs that are important to Northwest Pennsylvania. Most importantly, he wants to slash the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program by 22 percent. And at a time when the cost of heating our homes is skyrocketing.

Just today the Department of Health and Human Services provided an additional $6.129 million to Pennsylvania to assist low-income families pay their heating bills. According to Senator Arlen Specter's office, Pennsylvania’s share of the funding represents over one-tenth of the $40 million in emergency contingency funds being released by HHS to 11 states which rely on fuel oil for at least 20% of their heating.

How can the President sensibly propose cutting the LIHEAP program when we are in the middle of dishing out emergency funds above what was already allocated?

Cash payments in LIHEAP funds to Erie totaled more than $2 million this past year, with an extra $350 thousand in crisis payments.

Here's the breakdown for Erie in the 07-08 LIHEAP season as of February 9th:

LIHEAP cash applications received: 11,807
Cash payments: $2,238,767
Average cash payment: $254.23

LIHEAP crisis applications received: 1,182
Crisis payments: $349,900
Average crisis payment: $296.00

Total cash payments for PA: $66,692,101
Total crisis payments for PA: $25,148,962

I talked to our local Congressmen about the cuts. Here's what John Peterson had to say, "It's just wrongheaded to cut LIHEAP, especially when we don't have an adequate energy policy that is going to moderate energy prices. This is something Congress could fix."

The president also wants to end the Community Services Block Grant program. This initiative has provided millions to Erie for housing, education, and job services to low-income people.

Congressman Phil English told me, "I find it particularly appalling that the administration is cutting a program that empowers local organizations to provide services to the poor and do it in a way that's very entrepreneurial."

(Let me remind you that Bush has proposed ending the CSBG program in the past, and Congress has never allowed it.)

While the President cut several funds important to our area in his budget, he did allocate more money than expected for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The SCHIP program has been a hotly contested issue on Capitol Hill for the past several months, and Senator Bob Casey has been a big supporter of putting more money into SCHIP. He says the President's efforts just aren't enough.

"The budget by a government, especially the federal government, is a mirror into which we look every year. It's a reflection of who we are, what our values are, and the people we care about, the people we are going to fight for. Unfortunately, I think the President's priorities are the wrong ones," Casey said.

So, Bush proposed a $3 trillion budget, the largest budget ever made by a President, and he left out programs that are important to Erie.

But we shouldn't worry too much yet. The President's budget is his plan for the next year, however, it's only a proposal. Now Congress is working on their own budget, and the process of coming to a compromise usually takes until at least October. OK, let's be honest, Congress seldom passes a budget on time these days anyway. And in this presidential election year, it's likely that a new President and Congress will be calling the shots.

Governor Ed Rendell met with President Bush and other governors this morning in the White House.

The state chiefs talked about ways they can work together to secure a clean energy future for the nation. Rendell says he’s proud that Pennsylvania’s standing out as a green state.

“We are the greenest state in the union in terms of what we do as a state. Our own policies in terms of alternate vehicles, our requirement that all of our state agencies be using 20% green energy by 2010 ranked us number 12th in the union for all institutions and the greenest state in the union. That’s good news,” he told me outside today's meeting.

But the governor also added that the Pennsylvania state legislature needs to pass an energy bill in order to allow the state to be on the cutting edge of conservation. He said he doesn’t think PA can meet the demand for energy without finding new ways to conserve.

Aside from energy, the big chatter at this year’s governor’s meeting was the presidental race. In both parties, several of the leading contenders for the office of vice president are currently governors.

So, it looks like one of the governors might really be heading to the White House. Here are some of the names that are floating around….

On the Republican side Florida’s Charlie Crist has been talked about since he backed McCain before the Florida primary. And Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty, chair of the National Governor’s Association, will host the Republican convention in his home state. Let’s not also forget Mark Sanford, South Carolina’s governor or Jon Huntsman Jr., the staunch conservative from Utah.

For the Democrats Kathleen Sebelius, governor of Kansas has been mentioned. (If you remember she delivered the Democrats' televised response to President Bush's State of the Union address.) Presidential dropout Bill Richardson of New Mexico is on the list along with Virginia’s Tim Kaine.

While Rendell is a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton he says he won’t be running for Vice President. Instead, we can expect to see him in the governor’s mansion until 2011.