That Sunday’s Lancaster County Democratic convention did not endorse a candidate to unseat U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum suggests the party is not as unified as leaders want it to be.


In consecutive speeches, Don Moribito, executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic party, Bruce Beardsley, county party chairman, and Art DeCoursey, Northeast regional director of the Democratic National Committee, said that, in the past, the party suffered from shortsightedness and a mire of different messages.


Staying on point has been, according to DeCoursey, like “herding cats.” So when the convention adjourned into small workshops, the “Defeating Santorum” speakers kept it simple and pointed.


“We’ve got to spread the gospel that he’s not a man of conviction,” Clay Township Supervisor Jon Price said. “He’s doing everything he can to undo the New Deal”; he wants to cut veterans’ health care and mass transit and is against birth control, Price said.


While ousting Santorum is the paramount goal for the Democrats, the party did not throw its weight behind one candidate, choosing an open primary instead.


The party also endorsed a record number of candidates for Congress and legislative seats in the May 16 primary, with most of the legislative newcomers running on an anti-pay-raise platform while the only incumbent, Mike Sturla, voted for the now-repealed raise.


The U.S. Senate race, though, will probably be the major focus for Democrats in the primary.


Committeeman Chris Wakeley, who called Lancaster an “emerging Democratic county,” said the Santorum race will be the most closely watched and most expensive in the country.


He estimated that the combined spending of both parties would meet or exceed $50 million.


“There will be gushers of money from all over the country coming into Pennsylvania,” Wakeley said.


“They’re just waiting to see who to send the money to.” Like father, like son U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, wants that money to go to state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr.


Casey, son of former Gov. Bob Casey, shares many of his father’s views.


He is anti-abortion and opposes gun control and expanding federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.


These positions, together with traditionally Democratic stances on issues such as the environment, education and minimum wage, inspire hope among party leaders that Casey might touch a nerve with moderate conservatives and upset the two-term incumbent.


His views don’t sit well with many rank-and-file Democrats, though. One committee member, in an exchange with Beardsley, expressed his reservations about Casey.


“Would you rather have someone who you disagree with about two things [abortion and gun control] but agree with about everything else, or one who you disagree with on everything?” Beardsley asked.


“Those two issues are very important to me,” the committeeman responded.


Beardsley and Price downplayed the abortion rights/anti-abortion conflict. “Our view is that abortion should be rare and safe; it’s not the issue the media makes it,” Beardsley said.


Price said 43 percent of Democrats are anti-abortion, and the party wouldn’t run a candidate unable to raise money or speak to the base. “We have to run someone who can win the election,” Price said, but added that “we have to support whoever the nominee is.”


Chuck Pennacchio and Alan Sandals are both challenging Casey from the left in the May 16 primary.


Sandals, a pensions lawyer from Philadelphia, supports abortion rights, stem-cell research and gun control. Pennacchio, a history professor from Bucks County, has energized the progressive wing of the Democratic Party with his uncompromising rhetoric.


“With Casey,” Pennacchio said, “the Democrats are running not to lose.”


“The Lancaster Democrats get it, and their convention proves that they are not going to be logrolled. They are tired of contradictory, hypocritical, boss politics, and they want a true democratic process” that an open primary offers.


Charlie Crystle, a progressive who ran for U.S. Senate two years ago, has endorsed Pennacchio and welcomes the lack of a county party endorsement. “It’s a victory for Lancaster County Democratic voters, who can choose for themselves the best candidate to represent them in the Senate, without interference from the county party,” Crystle said in an e-mail.


“Many voters are angry with the leadership at the state and national level for shutting down liberal candidates like Pennacchio (who is right on just about all the issues for most Democrats) by endorsing the conservative Casey,’’ he said.


Beardsley said that Casey’s relative silence in the face of criticism from those in his own party and Santorum is making it easy for others to define him.


In a Feb. 9 Keystone Poll, 50 percent of respondents said they would vote for Casey, 39 percent would support Santorum and 11 percent were undecided.


Among registered independents, Casey leads Santorum by 18 points. Pennacchio and Sandals were not part of the survey.




A HOUSE DIVIDED?




Perhaps the most curious part of Sunday’s convention was an apparent double standard on the legislative pay raise. Candidates, all endorsed unanimously in committee and running unopposed in the primary, rose to accept their nominations to rousing applause and offered speeches greeted with standing ovations.


Iraq war veteran and senatorial candidate for the 36th District, Jason Leisey, talked of “restoring Lancaster values to the Legislature.”


Lee Heffner, running for the 37th District House seat, and Ginny DiIlio, standing for the 99th, both decried the pay raise to the approval of the audience.


State Rep. Mike Sturla is seeking his sixth term in the 96th.


When he stood to accept his endorsement, he spoke about raising the minimum wage, slammed House Republican efforts to cut taxes for businesses and discussed property tax remedies.


He did not mention his vote for the pay raise nor his subsequent, often vociferous, defense of it, and the crowd didn’t seem to mind.


Lancaster County’s only elected Democrat in the Legislature got cheers every bit as loud as those running on an anti-pay raise, legislative reform platform.


“There is room in the party for disagreement,” Beardsley explained. “Every candidate has to represent his constituency, and Jason, Lee, and Ginny believe they are doing that.


“Mike believes otherwise and will continue to do a great job for his constituents.”




IT'S RAINING MEN (AND WOMEN)




County Democrats endorsed more candidates Sunday than they have in more than 10 years, according to Beardsley.


Their sweep of City Council and the mayor’s office underscores the party’s emergence as a force not just in the city, but countywide, suggested Greg Paulson, the city Democrats’ chairman, in his endorsement of Lois Herr.


Herr, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts in the 16th Congressional District, can win, Paulson said.


“She got more votes than any Democrat ever in the 16th last time,” he said, referring to her unsuccessful bid to unseat Pitts in 2004.


Herr lost that race by 85,210 votes.


That Democrats face an uphill battle is not lost on Jason Leisey.


In the 36th Senatorial District where the veteran is running, Republicans outnumber Democrats by a 3-1 margin. But, he said, “soldiers go into battle determined to win.”


Candidates endorsed at the convention are:


- Lois Herr — U.S. Representative 16th.


- Jason Leisey — State Senate 36th.


- John Liss — State Senate 48th.


- Lee Heffner — State House 37th.


- Hal Yudof — State House 43rd.


- Mike Sturla — State House 96th.


- Tim Callahan — State House 97th.


- Ginny DiIlio — State House 99th.

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