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PA-11: Corey O'Brien May Take on Kanjorski in Dem Primary

by: DavidNYC

Mon Apr 20, 2009 at 4:56 PM EDT


This could wind up being huge news:

This past week a few people have told me that Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O'Brien is gearing up for a primary challenge to Kanjo in 2010 for the 10th CD seat. In fact I have found out that Jimmy Siegel, a big Democratic media gun, has been contacted by O'Brien. I'm not still convinced that O'Brien will make the race. I sent an email to him asking for comment. If he answers I will let you know.

Update: Corey got back to me. He neither confirmed or denied my report. We will get together later this week. I asked him if he was running for Congress and he said "I am seriously considering it."

Everyone here is familiar with Paul Kanjorski, the past-his-prime northeastern PA rep who just barely surived his re-election campaign last year, and only after a barrage of Democratic support. I don't know a whole lot about Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O'Brien, meanwhile, but as an up-and-coming 35-year-old elected official, right off the bat he's a lot of things Kanjorski isn't. I do know that he had the courage to come out for Obama last year in an area where Clinton was wildly popular (she took over 70% of the vote in Lackawanna) - and he took his lumps for it. If O'Brien can stand up to the establishment like that, then maybe he really is capable of taking on Kanjorski (or perhaps pushing him into retirement).

In any event, I look forward to learning more about O'Brien's politics, and getting confirmation of his intentions.
DavidNYC :: PA-11: Corey O'Brien May Take on Kanjorski in Dem Primary
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PA-11: Corey O'Brien May Take on Kanjorski in Dem Primary | 28 comments
Good.
Kanjorski won't have Obama to save him in 2010; we need someone else. Hopefully Kanjorski will just retire.
Agreed
We need to get Kanjorski out of there badly.  A legit primary challenger might be what pushes him into retiring.

Too bad the same cannot be said for Murtha.

[ Parent ]
Going after Murtha is like going after Don Young
not easily done.

And it would have to be done by a Democrat. The GOP has no bench in the 12th.  

[ Parent ]
One small point
The 11th is NOT central PA, it's northeastern PA.  
You are right
My error.
[ Parent ]
how was Kanjorski's fundraising?
Any clues pointing to retirement there?
Good Q
Not many tea leaves there, though. He didn't do too awfully - $165K. Somehow he's got $429K in the bank. Somehow he finished the general election with $312K on hand, which is kind of amazing given how close everyone knew the race was - I'm surprised he didn't end with just pennies.
[ Parent ]
I have to hand it to Pennsylvania
They sure drew one heck of a dummymander.  It's already produced 5 Democratic pickups between 2006/08 in addition to Holden shockingly defeating Gekas in 2002.  

And going the other way Kanjorski nearly lost his pro-Dem gerrymandered seat in 2006.

you mean in 2008?


Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
only because of scandal
and a good Republican campaign.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
Ya, I meant 2008

[ Parent ]
And I'd be happy
If we could pull off one more pickup in PA in 2010 to have a stronger hand come redistricting.  Since redistricting is nearly certain to be a compromise map we need as many seats as possible going into 2012.  
[ Parent ]
That will be PA-6
especially if Gerlach runs for Governor.
[ Parent ]
And:
I'm curious about the 9th, 16th and 19th districts up there. Is there any possibility or hope of defeating Shuster, Pitts or Platts to pick up their seats?
[ Parent ]
Little to no chance
Although McCain only won Pitts' district by a 51-48 margin.
[ Parent ]
Lancaster and Cehster are trendign Dem
I see Murphy getting Chester back and keeping Dauphin and some of Berks while PA-06 is move to being almost entirely in Montgomery while Pa-08 loses its portion of Montogemry and retains Bukcs while moving outward into Berks.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
I think Murphy's district
should be drawn deep into hard core black areas of Philly to make that seat safe.  
[ Parent ]
Can probably be done
I believe those Philly majority AA seats are way over 50% currently.  Some of that could be shaved off into Murphy's district.
[ Parent ]
naw, unneccessary
and not very probable. The seat is good where it is and trending more Dem. What I meant by that was not Murphy but Tim Holden.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
Tim Holden
should be made safe by moving the Democratic areas in Reading, Lancaster, and York into his district.
[ Parent ]
Holden
Unless he becomes engulfed in a scandal i cant see him losing even in his current boundaries. Even in a GOP tidal wave year. Hes becoming entrenched and seemingly very popular. But of course theres the possibility he either retires early or makes a statewide bid (he doesnt seem to be interested in being a Gov/Sen. but you never know). I guess that should be taken into consideration, as well.
[ Parent ]
Obama's performance in Dauphin Co
was simply incredible.  He won the county by 9%, in a place that Casey won by 7% while beating Santorum by 18% statewide, and which Rendell lost twice, including in 2006 when he was winning by 20% statewide.
[ Parent ]
A Harrisburg, Reading
York and Chester based district would be awesome.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
PA-7 (Sestak)
They could make his seat extremely safe by taking in much of the heavily Dem white neighborhoods of South Philly. The south Philly white vote, in PA-1, is only around 90,000 I believe but given that Obama won PA-1 with 88% of the vote and Kerry and Gore 84% of the vote then surely they have to be strongly Dem. And putting those neighborhoods into a white suburban district would be much politically easier than putting black neighborhoods in it. PA-1 could replace them with white, moderate suburban voters from Sestak's. But Im sure those voters will protest being put in a primarily poor, urban district. I wont use the word 'black' since perhaps theyre enlightened enough (given their moderation) to not care about race.
[ Parent ]
Unfortunately South Philly voted for McCain
but probably would vote for any white Democrat.
[ Parent ]
Certainly not Shuster
The 5th and the 9th CDs will anchor Pennsylvania's GOP long after any other part of the state has fallen to us.

30, male, Democratic, CO-01
[ Parent ]
As long as Kanjo isn't our candidate
in 2010 I'm happy. O'Brien sounds like an ideal candidate.  
O'Brien MAY be a good candidate
but, other than supporting Obama, what has he done?  what are his positions on the issues? why is he running?

I would need some idea of the answer to these questions before I tossed a democratic congressman overboard for him.

[ Parent ]
PA-11: Corey O'Brien May Take on Kanjorski in Dem Primary | 28 comments

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