Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

Just a quick note on what’s happening in Delaware County. Bryan Lentz, an Iraq War veteran, has withdrawn from the Democratic primary for the congressional seat currently held by Curt Weldon. He will instead run for a seat in the Pennsylvania legislature. Lentz withdraw from the race, following the withdraw of Paul Scoles, makes way for an uncontested Democratic primary for retired Vice Admiral Joe Sestak. I’m not familiar with Sestak, but his extensive military and academic credentials (Navy Bio) will serve him well against Weldon, who is just about as entrenched as entrenched comes.

I have to admit to a bit of disappointment that the slate has been cleared (Rendell again). I can’t think of anything that would serve the Democratic Party in Delaware County better than a vigorous Democratic primary featuring an Army Major and a Navy Vice Admiral. Delaware county is controlled by a strong Republican machine and a long shot for any Democrat, so I would think the exposure a dramatic primary produces would benefit the Democratic party. Oh, well.

AP:

Bryan Lentz said that after conversations with Delaware County Democratic Party officials and Gov. Ed Rendell, he decided it was in the best interest of the party to step aside. He said he will run for the state House instead.

Lentz said he will support the candidacy of recently retired three-star Vice Adm. Joseph A. Sestak Jr., who announced last week he was also running in the Democratic primary in the 7th District

In the quarter that ended Dec. 31, Lentz, an attorney and Army Reserves major who volunteered to serve with a civil affairs unit in Iraq, raised $83,372 - nearly matching the amount raised by Weldon[…]

“I met with Joe Sestak and I met with my close supporters and we assessed that the best way to bring change to Washington and to Harrisburg was to move forward on a unified front,” Lentz said.

Sestak, who served in Afghanistan, praised Lentz as a good soldier and candidate. The two are scheduled to appear together at a news conference Friday afternoon in Media.

A lot of us are hoping to see Southeastern Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation go blue (a tall, tall order), and nothing would be nicer than to see Weldon out of congress. Have a look at this for a few of the many reasons why. You might also catch an example of why you might not want to write too much about congressional races well over a year before election day.

(Via Jane and PoliticsPA)

This entry was posted on Friday, February 10th, 2006 at 12:44 am and is filed under Philadelphia, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.