Went to a Bob Casey event last night. It was nominally a fundraiser, but basically a visibility event as it was pretty low money. All the local mucketymucks were there (Mayor Street, Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah Allyson Schwartz, etc...). Ricky's kids (campaign volunteers) were out protesting the event, making themselves look like idiots.
At this point it's largely irrelevant, but I have to admit Casey surprised me quite a bit. He had a lot more charisma, and a much better ability to control a room, than I expected or I'd ever seen before. He even made a couple funnies. I don't really care if my politicians are charismatic except to the extent that it helps the ones I like win. I don't need to have a beer with them, or like them, or feel like they're my buddy as long as they work for stuff I approve of. How much he'll do that remains to be seen, but credit where credit is due. I don't imagine that he'll be the anti-abortion zealot that his father was, though he could prove me wrong on that count. I'm still pissed at the Wise Old Democrats who pushed away more progressive candidates, thinking it was necessary in order to defeat the already-a-national-joke Santorum. But he'll probably just run for governor in 4 years anyway.*
I suppose the point of all this is to say that yes, I'll be hitting the button for Bob Casey on Tuesday.
*Yet another issue I'm surprised the Santorum campaign hasn't tried to make an issue of. True or not, "everyone" believes Casey's senate run is just a stepping stone to the governor's office, and the obvious time for that to happen is in 2010.
