Rendell: Matthews is the 'strongest Democratic candidate'

[Thrill]

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell gave Chris Matthews a glowing endorsement for his potential Senate candidacy today, calling the MSNBC host the “strongest Democratic candidate without any doubt” in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

Rendell added that he doesn’t “really know” if Matthews has made a decision to run yet. And he cautioned that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) would be a formidable opponent because of his strong ties to independents and moderate Democrats.

Rendell's longtime political consultant, Neil Oxman, has been talking with Matthews about running for Specter's seat and is encouraging him to jump in the race.

"I don't really know if he has made up his own decision.....he would be the strongest Democratic candidate without any doubt because he is so well known, because of his ability to raise money around the nation, he would be a strong candidate but Arlen Specter is very tough to beat in a general election cause he's had a bond with suburban Democrats, Philadelphia Democrats, and he does very well with independent and those moderate Republicans."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1208/Rendell_Matthews_is_the_strongest_Democratic_candidate.html?showall

[bigdarryl]

1. bullshit!!! he's not beating Spector

[Captain Hilts]

2. No, I'd get Patrick Murphy. He's young, liberal and an Iraq War vet.

Matthews is crazy, much older and unhealthy.

[Unsane]

4. Again with the "unhealthy" thing.

You really seem to be on a kick about that.

FWIW Matthews is a baby compared to Spect-or.

[elleng]

6. Matthews is NUTS unhealthy,

imo.

[Captain Hilts]

11. But PA needs someone who can be in there for 3-4 terms or more. Murphy can...

Matthews can't.

[Unsane]

12. I'm a fan of Murph, but he's probably too wet behind the ears.

[H2O Man]

3. Very good.

I think that Mr. Matthews will run. There is a solid team in place, ready to back him. If he runs, he will win.

[AlinPA]

20. I think that the people of PA will reject him once they hear him sputter and

slobber the way he does on his stupid TV program. He is a complete jerk.

[elleng]

5. If that's the case, PA Dems in BAAAAAD shape!

.

[rvablue]

29. Bingo....all of this Matthews talk is down right depressing for our party. nt.

[wyldwolf]

7. despite the "bullshits" and what not in this thread, Matthews is the strongest candidate

[Hokie]

8. Rendell sure likes reading his quotes in print and being on TV

This man is good for a quote a day.

[Ichingcarpenter]

25. He's the new Harold Ford go to guy. You would think Rendell had a state to run

He's in New York doing morning Joe, then interviewed in DC on another news show
also the same day. Then the next day quoted in print. I think he is over saturated
as the voice for the Democrats, I cringe when he comes on because he puts his
foot in his mouth half the time.

I'm not a big fan of Rendell.

[tigereye]

26. he usually knows what he is talking about though...

as far as politics goes.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. I can't for one minute take a Matthews candidacy seriously

and I doubt PA will either.

Imagine him running around the halls of Congress behaving as he does on TV.

Unreal.

[ClarkUSA]

15. He was Tip O' Neill's chief of staff and the speechwriter that helped propel Carter into the WH

In light of his past successful and high-profile Capitol Hill experience, I believe he knows exactly how to comport himself in Congress.

[rvablue]

32. And Leiberman was a Democratic Vice Presidential candidate......is he palatable to you too?

Matthews voted for Bush, most likely twice, but we know for sure once.

He repeated ad hominem the RW lies used to smear Gore in 2000.

He has had Laura Ingrahama and Ann Coulter on his show a mulititude of times, once allowing the latter to go unchecked when she insinuated that Clinton was a homosexual and Gore wa "a fag."

[ClarkUSA]

34. D'oh! Not you again! Are you stalking me or something? Go whine to Gov. Rendell, will ya?

:rofl:

[Phred42]

39. Zackly - "We're ALL Neocons now..."

Tweety was the biggest promoter of that "Wouldn't Bush be great to have a beer with..." bullshit in 2000 and 2004.

Tweety acted like a hard nippled high school cheerleader for Bush in 2000 and 2004.

NO thanks we don't need any more 'democrats' like THAT!


Blue Dogs, The OTHER Republicans

[Serial Mom]

10. Specter shouldn't be any friend of moderate Dems

He wants a delay in the hearings for Holder BECAUSE OF A TRIP on the TAXPAYERS DIME with one other person... MRS. SPECTER!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103677.html

Leahy noted that he had asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to "facilitate your 14-day trip to 10 countries from December 25 through January 7." He then asked Specter, "Please do let me know who the other Senators are who will be accompanying you."

Hmmm. Leahy, as Judiciary chairman, probably authorized Specter's congressional delegation, though it's possible he didn't know that the "delegation" was just Specter and his wife and an aide, who are taking a military jet to Europe and the Middle East over the holidays. The itinerary includes stops in England, Israel (his 26th visit), Syria (18th) and Austria. The Austria stop is for a chat with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

[Cha]

35. Yeah, and Rendell always knows what he's talking about.

:sarcasm:

[phillysuse]

13. Joe Sestak - mature, well spoken, grown up

Ran ahead of Obama in a Republican leaning district.

[jedr]

14. Before you guys kick tweety around too bad, remember this;

Specter is a very ill man and may not complete an other term. The t zone of Pa. isn't the most intellectual part of the state ("they're gona' take away our guns", rednecks). So, you need to offer a candidate with name recognition ,like Matthews, or the result might be a return of Ricky, Man on dog, Santorum. Does that make Matthews look good to you now?

[WI_DEM]

16. Well if he were re-elected and kicks the bucket the democratic governor wouldn't appoint

Rick Santorum to his seat.

[jedr]

24. true, but if Specter is too ill to run, Rick might be the guy;

Admittedly there are a lot of if's an's and but's to this. I think my main thought is that Matthew's is a Dem' and has name recognition. Philly will come out and vote but don't count on the 'Burgh. Don't underestimate the T zone, they do vote, even though it usually against their own best interest.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. "Does that make Matthews look good to you now?" No.

There is very little population in that ridiculous "T". I would think the results of Obama's 10+% win in PA should have brought this fact home to people.

Most of this state is RURAL. The big population centers of Philadelphia and its metro area (which has 1/3rd of the state's population), the Lehigh Valley (with Scranton, Bethlehem, Wilkes-Barre, etc), Pittsburgh (proper, within Allegheny County), Erie, and Harrisburg, is what produces the votes. And Philadelphian Democrats are stuck on stupid when it comes to Specter because he DOES "bring the bacon home" to this city, he is Pro-Choice, and he WAS a former Democrat early in his career. I have refused to vote for ANY repuke in ANY election and have never voted for Specter, but he manages to slide into Philadelphia and sweet-talk on the local talk shows, and he gets elected again and again thanks to this city, and especially because he ended up running against a bevy of weak Democrats. Ironically, I always felt that Rendell had a perfect opportunity to "keep going" by running for that seat and he would have been a much stronger candidate than Tweety. However Rendell has royally pissed off Philadelphians now so he must know he's finished when he burnt his bridges during the primaries.

Tweety is a product of the eastern side of the state (his brother is a Repuke Commissioner in Montgomery County) and if he can't appeal to the west (i.e., Pittsburgh), then he won't get it, despite name recognition. And Tweety has been opportunistic on his show, often following along with his lunatic fringe corporate masters with their RW spin, and appearing almost like a split personality when it comes to support of the Democratic platform of late... and so he is not necessarily enamored by Philadelphians. He may have been involved in old school Democratic politics, but that was 20 - 30 years ago and people here want to know what has he done lately?

Both Caseys (father and son), and Rendell got in because the same combination of votes that you saw happen during this general election, which helped to give Obama a stunning victory despite all the hand-wringing here on DU about this stupid "T" shit and the additional bullshit in the M$M about PA. When the key areas don't turn out, the Heinz's, Santorums, Ridges, and Thornburghs get in.

The one thing that might happen is if the repukes put up a strong candidate to run against Specter and Specter loses the primary (he barely squeaked by the last time). He won in 2004 because he had a huge war chest. Am wondering, in light of what just happened with the arrest of Madoff and the asset freeze of his firm, whether Specter had investments caught up in there that may have been tied to his current war chest and whether that might have an impact on his $$$.

[AlinPA]

21. I don't think Matthews will make it in W PA.

[rvablue]

30. OOOO! Scary! Pick Matthews or Santorum is coming back!

Not a good enough argument to nominate a Bush loving, Gore smearing, corporate hack.

Next.

[ShadowLiberal]

18. Unfortunately this just confirms that Rendell isn't running :(

If Rendell ran for the senate then he'd probably be a lock to win it, the guy won the governor's race by nearly a 2 to 1 margin in 2006. I'd give Specter only a 1 in 5 chance of defeating Rendell, and that's assuming if Specter somehow wins the republican primary.

I think we're screwed here in PA's senate race if Matthews is our candidate. Celebrities who are controversial make weak candidates, look at Al Franken, we should have won Coleman's seat outright on election day in such a democratic year, instead we're stuck in a bunch of courtroom battles trying to pull off a win by like 0.001% of the vote over Coleman.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. I agree.

Particularly about what has happened with Franken that would most likely be the case here in PA if Tweety was on the ballot.

I was just hunting around and realized a possibility - Mark Singel, who had run previously against Lynn Yeakel (gosh, I had forgotten all about that - it seems an eternity ago) during the Democratic primary when Specter's seat was up at the time. I may try an OP on him.

[AllentownJake]

22. Well that is the only good news out of this :-)

He'll be out of power and won't have the strangle hold that he has on the party anymore :-)

[ShadowLiberal]

28. Rendell may be a rude loud mouth at times, but he's still quite popular in PA

[AllentownJake]

38. I'm not for party machines (EOM)

[FrenchieCat]

23. Matthews gets paid to play. There isn't anything redeeming about someone

that doesn't know how to listen, but only knows how to bloviate.

If this is all that Penn has to offer up, they are in sad shape.

[Karenina]

27. Indeed!

I would look askance at anyone unable to pierce this chameleon's capers and realize he simply goes with the flow.

[rvablue]

31. Matthews=weather vane......that's right, any way the wind blows! n/t

[ShortnFiery]

33. If smarmy Fast Eddy Rendell gives Tweety Kudos, Hell! I'm even more against him.

He's NO democrat because he IDOLIZES the political elite of both parties. Or have you missed Tweety's nose-up Tom Delay's ass?!?

No way! I'll donate to whomever challenges this "pretender." :puke: :thumbsdown:

[Moderate Dem]

36. Anybody who is disliked

by both the far right AND the far left has a head start on getting MY vote.

[Phred42]

37. GOD HELP US - TWEETY IS NOT A DEMOCRAT

at best - on a good day - he is a Blue Dog. We don't need any more of 'The Other Republicans'

He CALLS himself a DEm because if he called himself a Repug he couldn't run against Spector.