PA-12: Election Day Scenes

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WASHINGTON, Pa. — As reported via phone to Smitty earlier, turnout was light today — considered good news for Tim Burns. Here are some photos from my visit to precincts in Latrobe, Pa., today.

Fire station that was 1st Ward polling place in Latrobe.

Brian O’Connor of Red Dog Report working for Tim Burns outside the precinct.

Brian with the Tim Burns campaign flyer.

Signs displayed across the street from the fire station — note the “vote twice” theme on the Burns sigh.

Voting official Janice Smith at Latrobe Ward 4.

Polls close at 8 p.m., and I’ll have results here from the Tim Burns victory celebration the posh George Washington Hotel.

PA-12 VIDEO: Inside Burns HQ

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WASHINGTON, Pa. — Just now setting up at the posh George Washington Hotel on Main Street, having just scored this video footage inside the Tim Burns campaign headquarters down the street:

Now, all I’ve got to do is to Photoshop an “official” all-access campaign staff credential, and I’ll be in like Flynn . . .

PA-12: Shoe Leather Update. Burns Victory?–UPDATE: 175 Double Votes Due To Ballot Misunderstanding?

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by Smitty

Stacy McCain talked to a ‘Republican source’ at ~2:00 PM, who said “Turnout was low, which is good for Burns.” Details:

  • He went by Latrobe, PA, and visited three voting locations. This confirmed the low turnout. In the 4th Ward, 987 registered voters. ~200 had voted by 4:00 PM.
  • In the 1st Ward, the largest in town 1,200 registered, had 276 voters by 4:00 PM. According to a voting official, this is a generally Democratic ward, Republican turnout greater than usual.
  • In the 6th Ward, which has <600 registered voters. 138 had voted by 4:15 PM.

The day, in general, was cool, overcast, and had rain in the morning, but has sunshine peeking out.
A report that Mark Critz has been videod inside a precinct in the 4th Ward of Westmont. Campaigning is not allowed, by state law. It is not known whether he was voting at the time. Stacy is seeking comment from the Critz campaign.

The Burns people are encouraged by what they’ve seen, and cautiously optimistic.

Polls close at 8:00 PM Eastern. If you live in, or know anyone who does, call them now, now, now.

Roughly 30% turnout can be expected, which is good for the Republican candidate.

Update: Dan Riehl picks up PA-12 and KY-Sen.

Update II: Let the nonsense begin: 175 double votes in North Union 4? The official

claims she thought the Special Election to fill the vacancy in Congressional District 12 required her to give a seperate ballot for the Primary and the Special Election. As of now, it is unknown the partisan breakdown of the 175 voters.

OK, yeah, sure.

UPDATE 10 p.m. ET (RSM): Now reporting the election results live from Burns HQ.

Col. Patrick Murray, VA-8 Hopeful, On Strategy Room This Morning

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by Smitty

I’m waiting for Stacy to call in a field report from PA-12, from which we expect good news this evening.
To tide you over, here is Col. Patrick Murray, one of two Republican hopefuls in the 08June primary, the other being Matthew Berry. Both are rock-solid candidates. One wishes the two resumes could be blended somehow. Slight nod to the veteran. The real point is that we need to Retire Jim Moran.

Two Kinds of Jews

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Philip Klein explains: 

[T]he difference between a Jewish liberal and a Jewish conservative is that when a Jewish liberal walks out of the Holocaust Museum, he feels, “This shows why we need to have more tolerance and multiculturalism.” The Jewish conservative feels, “We should have killed a lot more Nazis, and sooner.”

Exactly so, and you should read the whole thing. I forget who it was that once described a liberal as a man who refuses to take his own side in an argument, but it’s the same basic point.

PA-12: ELECTION DAY!

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It’s been three weeks since I first put in a phone call to Tim Burns’ campaign headquarters, and I’ve since made three trips to Pennsylvania’s 12th District to cover this special election. The polls show a dead heat, and Dave Weigel at the Washington Post suspects Democrats are feeling confident, but they may just be playing the expectations game. From my column today at The American Spectator:

Debbie Lee came all the way from Arizona to campaign for Tim Burns. She was “deployed” to western Pennsylvania on behalf of Moving America Forward, a pro-military organization “committed to supporting America’s efforts to defeat terrorism,” and she brought with her a $5,000 check for the Burns campaign from the group’s political action committee.
Lee is a “Gold Star Mother” whose son, a Navy SEAL, was killed in a 2006 firefight in Iraq. She praised Burns as “a candidate who understands and will uphold the Constitution and who recognizes the sacrifices our troops make.”
In the battle for Pennsylvania’s 12th District, Lee is one member of a veritable of army of volunteers fighting to elect a Republican to the seat held for more than three decades by the late Democrat John Murtha. For weeks, volunteers have stuffed envelopes, manned phone banks and walked precincts, and today they’ll make the final push to get their voters to the polls in a special election that many observers are calling a crucial test of whether the GOP can win back the House of Representatives in November.
On the eve of this key election, only one man was willing to predict the final result. “I can assure you, we’re going to have a victory tomorrow,” Burns said in an interview on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program Monday night. . . .

Please read the whole thing. I’ll be traveling to Pennsylvania this morning to provide on-the-scene Election Day coverage, so your contributions to the Shoe Leather Fund are courteously solicited, and expect updates throughout the day.

CWCID For NYT From AllahPundit?

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by Smitty

The NYT engaged in respectable journalism and hammered Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut AG, for attempting to assing himself off as having served in Vietnam.
AllahPundit updates his post to say:

Credit where credit is due: No doubt it pained the NYT to drop a bomb on one of the few surefire Democratic winners this November, but they dropped it anyway.

Why are we congratulating the NYT for doing the right thing? Should we as well give Blumenthal a medal for not firing a shot in a theater to which he apparently never deployed?

Update: Blumenthal backfires. I mean, he fires back. No, wait, he backs into a fire, and now his pants are aflame. That is, he is aflame from back to front, panting, with a fire in his belly, with love and admiration for Veterans and anyone else who will help keep his political torch from being extinguished.

Update II: Gateway Pundit has video. I blame Billy Joel for writing a song so poignant that we all felt like Vietnam veterans, even though I was barely a teen at the time it came out.

Update II: Dan Riehl reports that Blumenthal has something ‘seared in his memory’ that Blumenthal wishes was service.