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Did candidates ride Obama’s coattails in Pa.?
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The nation’s first black president-elect reinvigorated the Democratic Party on Tuesday, but also revived a long-forgotten political term: Coattails.
The term describes the pull of a candidate who is so popular he or she attracts voters to other candidates on a party’s ticket. It rarely happens anymore, as voters ignore their political party stripes and often split their votes.
But President-elect Barack Obama’s victory in Pennsylvania clearly boosted other Democrats, especially U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, who was written off by some as a goner in an otherwise banner year for his party.
Obama’s coattails alone weren’t responsible for Kanjorski’s defeat of Republican Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta. The dour economy, disgust with President Bush and an overwhelming sentiment that the country is on the wrong track all played large roles, as well as the aggressive, well-funded campaigns run by Kanjorski and other Democrats.
In the end, though, Obama was the embodiment of the change people wanted.
“We used to call it coattails,” said attorney Harry McGrath, the Lackawanna County Democratic Party chairman. “The reality of it is that there needed to be a change and people voted Democratic for the change.”
Perhaps the best evidence of that connection was the number of people who voted straight Democratic in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.
Between them, Kanjorski and Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Carney polled 68,170 votes in Lackawanna County, where 28,341 voted straight Democratic, or 41.5 percent, according to unofficial results.
By comparison, 11,021 voted straight Republican, or 29.1 percent of the votes cast for Barletta and Chris Hackett, Carney’s Republican opponent.
In Luzerne County, 66,629 people voted for Kanjorski and Carney and 30,303 voted straight Democratic, or 45.5 percent. On the Republican side, 19,256 voted straight GOP, or 29.1 percent of the votes cast for Barletta and Hackett.
Clearly, Kanjorski sensed Obama would have an effect.
In the last week of the race, the 71-year-old, 12-term congressman from Nanticoke aired a television commercial linking himself with Obama. It featured footage of Kanjorski and Obama speaking to each other before Obama’s Sept. 5 appearance at Schott Glass Technologies in Duryea.
“Paul Kanjorski and Barack Obama will stand up for us,” the commercial narrator said. “They’ll fix America. Obama and Kanjorski.
Ed Mitchell, Kanjorski’s media consultant and chief campaign spokesman, said a campaign poll a week before the election showed Kanjorski and Barletta tied. The same poll showed Obama ahead by 20 percentage points in Kanjorski’s district, Mitchell said.
By then, the race had become solely about the economy rather than Barletta’s pet issue, illegal immigration, a huge source of his success early in the race, Mitchell said.
“When it was the economy, we made a conscious effort to target under-40 voters and to target Obama voters,” he said. “The ad at the end that linked Paul with Obama, the whole purpose of that strategy was that. We felt that if we could connect Paul’s wagon to Obama’s star that he would help pull us over the line. And he did.”
Mitchell, however, disputed that Kanjorski benefited from Obama’s coattails because the congressman’s image is well-defined in the minds of voters.
“Paul won because people saw him as someone who has stood up for them,” Mitchell said.
But Barletta used language almost identical to Mitchell to argue Kanjorski benefited from Obama’s coattails.
“I really don’t feel like I lost. I feel like Obama won,” Barletta said. “He hooked his wagon to Obama’s horse at the end.”
In Carney’s case, it’s harder to argue an Obama effect, although he benefited from straight-ticket voting, too.
“Well, I think Obama performed very well in the 10th (Congressional District),” said Vincent Rongione, Carney’s campaign manager.
For example, Obama received 46 percent of the vote in Wyoming County, an unusually high number for a Democrat in a staunch Republican county. But Carney received almost 59 percent there.
Perhaps the best other sign of Obama’s influence was in the state representative race between incumbent Frank Shimkus, a registered Democrat forced to run on the Republican ballot, and Democratic nominee Kevin Murphy. Murphy won by more than 1,300 votes, according to unofficial results.
Of the 29,459 votes cast in the 113th District, 6,920, or 23.5 percent, were straight Democratic Party votes, according to unofficial election results.
“I think everyone who was a Democrat benefitted (from Obama’s popularity),” McGrath said.
The term describes the pull of a candidate who is so popular he or she attracts voters to other candidates on a party’s ticket. It rarely happens anymore, as voters ignore their political party stripes and often split their votes.
But President-elect Barack Obama’s victory in Pennsylvania clearly boosted other Democrats, especially U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, who was written off by some as a goner in an otherwise banner year for his party.
Obama’s coattails alone weren’t responsible for Kanjorski’s defeat of Republican Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta. The dour economy, disgust with President Bush and an overwhelming sentiment that the country is on the wrong track all played large roles, as well as the aggressive, well-funded campaigns run by Kanjorski and other Democrats.
In the end, though, Obama was the embodiment of the change people wanted.
“We used to call it coattails,” said attorney Harry McGrath, the Lackawanna County Democratic Party chairman. “The reality of it is that there needed to be a change and people voted Democratic for the change.”
Perhaps the best evidence of that connection was the number of people who voted straight Democratic in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.
Between them, Kanjorski and Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Carney polled 68,170 votes in Lackawanna County, where 28,341 voted straight Democratic, or 41.5 percent, according to unofficial results.
By comparison, 11,021 voted straight Republican, or 29.1 percent of the votes cast for Barletta and Chris Hackett, Carney’s Republican opponent.
In Luzerne County, 66,629 people voted for Kanjorski and Carney and 30,303 voted straight Democratic, or 45.5 percent. On the Republican side, 19,256 voted straight GOP, or 29.1 percent of the votes cast for Barletta and Hackett.
Clearly, Kanjorski sensed Obama would have an effect.
In the last week of the race, the 71-year-old, 12-term congressman from Nanticoke aired a television commercial linking himself with Obama. It featured footage of Kanjorski and Obama speaking to each other before Obama’s Sept. 5 appearance at Schott Glass Technologies in Duryea.
“Paul Kanjorski and Barack Obama will stand up for us,” the commercial narrator said. “They’ll fix America. Obama and Kanjorski.
Ed Mitchell, Kanjorski’s media consultant and chief campaign spokesman, said a campaign poll a week before the election showed Kanjorski and Barletta tied. The same poll showed Obama ahead by 20 percentage points in Kanjorski’s district, Mitchell said.
By then, the race had become solely about the economy rather than Barletta’s pet issue, illegal immigration, a huge source of his success early in the race, Mitchell said.
“When it was the economy, we made a conscious effort to target under-40 voters and to target Obama voters,” he said. “The ad at the end that linked Paul with Obama, the whole purpose of that strategy was that. We felt that if we could connect Paul’s wagon to Obama’s star that he would help pull us over the line. And he did.”
Mitchell, however, disputed that Kanjorski benefited from Obama’s coattails because the congressman’s image is well-defined in the minds of voters.
“Paul won because people saw him as someone who has stood up for them,” Mitchell said.
But Barletta used language almost identical to Mitchell to argue Kanjorski benefited from Obama’s coattails.
“I really don’t feel like I lost. I feel like Obama won,” Barletta said. “He hooked his wagon to Obama’s horse at the end.”
In Carney’s case, it’s harder to argue an Obama effect, although he benefited from straight-ticket voting, too.
“Well, I think Obama performed very well in the 10th (Congressional District),” said Vincent Rongione, Carney’s campaign manager.
For example, Obama received 46 percent of the vote in Wyoming County, an unusually high number for a Democrat in a staunch Republican county. But Carney received almost 59 percent there.
Perhaps the best other sign of Obama’s influence was in the state representative race between incumbent Frank Shimkus, a registered Democrat forced to run on the Republican ballot, and Democratic nominee Kevin Murphy. Murphy won by more than 1,300 votes, according to unofficial results.
Of the 29,459 votes cast in the 113th District, 6,920, or 23.5 percent, were straight Democratic Party votes, according to unofficial election results.
“I think everyone who was a Democrat benefitted (from Obama’s popularity),” McGrath said.
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