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I guess I got a morbid sense of humor because when it comes to political deaths, none have been sweeter than the continued plight of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett. Whether you are from State College, Millersville, Philadelphia or Pittsburgh (and likely everywhere in-between that has a public university), this is just excellent news as the embattled first-term Governor is both unpopular and unlikely to win reelection.
As always, and I’ve been updating you on Corbett’s approval ratings for quite some time this year, there is still plenty of time for some miracle to happen. I guess Corbett still has a shot to benefit from a controversy or maybe create a time machine. Sometimes numbers do lie and aren’t indicative of the electorate.
But the numbers don’t look pretty according to a new Quinnipiac poll that has the Governor with a sterling 30% approval rating and losing to likely Democratic challenger, Rep. Allyson Schwartz by a 35%-45% margin. For good measure, Corbett also trails State Treasurer Rob McCord by a 35-43% margin. Schwartz would also be Pennsylvania’s first female Governor.
I’ve heard the comparisons before but its not a bad one to make that Pennsylvania could be the Democrats version of North Carolina for Republicans in 2012. In North Carolina the Democratic incumbent, Bev Perdue, was so unpopular that she retired as opposed to run for reelection but she tarnished state Democratic Party so much; the GOP easily marched into the Governor’s Mansion. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that Corbett would do the same that Perdue did in retiring as opposed to suffering the embarrassment of a huge loss at the helms of state Democrats.
Still, the stench of Corbett and all that surrounds him (his time as AG during the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, the defunding of public education, etc.) might be too much to handle to any statewide Republican hopeful.
But as I always close any Corbett update, this is probably any reason for Corbett to just “close his eyes”.
