Corbett seeks own episode of 'Dewey defeats Truman'
Recall the iconic “Dewey defeats Truman” photo — the one of President Harry Truman triumphantly holding aloft the Chicago Tribune incorrectly crediting his opponent with the presidential election?
That photo was taken Nov. 3, 1948 — exactly 66 years ago today. The Tribune famously projected Dewey the winner based on early polling.
The polls again say most of Tuesday’s elections are already decided — all except one poll, Tuesday’s general election — and that’s the only poll that counts. There’s always a problem with big leads in the polls: they can foster a complacency that tempts the electorate to stay home.
So it’s not surprising to see the campaigns for Pennsylvania governor going into overdrive this past weekend, with incumbent Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and his Democratic challenger, Tom Wolf, hopscotching across the state, towing along the biggest of the political big guns they can muster, campaigning with a frantic sense of urgency to get out the vote.
Attending rallies on a cold, drizzly Friday in Lock Haven, Bloomsburg, Reading and Coatesville, Wolf urged Democrats to forget he maintains a healthy lead in the public opinion polls.
And throughout the weekend Corbett campaigned with high hopes on the same tendency. Corbett, appearing Friday in Chambersburg with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and in bucks County on Sunday with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, asked Republican voters not only to turn out and vote for him, but to urge other Republicans to do so too.
A Philadelphia Inquirer account of the weekend campaigning pointed out Wolf still leads the incumbent Corbett by double digits in some polls, but the contrasts between the two candidates has sharpened in recent advertising as well as the candidates’ comments. In clearfield, Corbett “mentioned his ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association, drawing applause from an otherwise reserved Clearfield crowd,” the Inquirer report read, while Wolf’s aides announcedhis intentions to visit Philadelphia’s “gayborhood” Friday night.
Corbett continues to tout the importance of energy investment, particularly in coal and natural gas, while Wolf wants to tax natural gas extraction. Corbett continues to press for privatization of the liquor industry. Wolf wants to preserve the Liquor Control Board and the labor unions that represent liquor store workers — and he points out Corbett hasn’t succeeded in privatizing the LCB after four years in office.
Locally, incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Butler is seeking re-election in the Third Congressional District against Democrat Mike LaVallee of Cranberry Township; and in the 12th Legislative District in southwestern Butler County, longtime incumbent Daryl Metcalfe, who fended off write-in challenger Gary Marburger in the spring primary, faces political newcomer Lisa Zucco of Cranberry Township.
In all three of these races, the incumbents appear to be leading comfortably — but not so comfortably that they’ve stopped campaigning. All of them continue working for the votes they expect to win.
None of them wants to be another Tom Dewey, and at least one incumbent governor is holding out hopes for a Truman-like celebration.
The polls are open continuously Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
