GOPers Hope That Messy PA Dem Primary Will Save Embattled Corbett
DANIEL STRAUSS – APRIL 8, 2014, 6:00 AM EDT
There's been an ongoing pattern of the 2014 election cycle: Democrats hope contested, bloody primaries between Republican candidates will create an opening for them. In Pennsylvania though the situation is flipped. Republicans are hoping an ongoing bloody Democratic primary will create an opening to save incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett (R), who's suffering from particularly low approval numbers.
"Whoever emerges, they are going to be bruised as everyone has to run to the left in the primary. Bruised and broke after having to spend a lot of money," Republican Governors Association press secretary Jon Thompson told TPM.
On Monday Rep. Allyson Schwartz, one of four candidates in the primary, became the last of the bunch to begin airing ads in the primary. That ended a period in which businessman Tom Wolf, which recent polls generally show as the frontrunner, dominated the airwaves with campaign ads.
But Wolf doesn't have the race locked up. Schwartz, for example, is the favorite of prominent liberal-leaning outside groups like EMILY's List and has reported raising $6.5 million while state Treasurer Rob McCord has said he raised a similar $6.6 million. The final candidate in the race, former Pennsylvania Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection Kathleen McGinty, meanwhile, said she raised $2.4 million in 2013. Observers say the Democratic primary is really a three-way-race between McCord, Wolf, and Schwartz with no end in sight.
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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/tom-corbett-pennsylvania-democratic-primary-allyson-schwartz-tom-wolf-rob-mccord
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In some corners of the internutz, electoral politics only work one way. 
I haven't seen the ads being aired, but since the contest is termed, "bloody", I'm assuming they are negative. I wish that Democrats would adopt primary strategies built around THEIR ideas, THEIR platform (verses republican ideas/platform) as opposed to THEIR ideas/platform versus the Democratic opponent's ideas/platform.
The distinction is subtle; but the former doubles the Democratic attacks on republicans (pro-Democratic messages), whereas, the latter is merely destructive in-fighting.
