Okay, so there's been a lot of talk around here about who's got the real momentum among the Democrats in the PA-05. Most recently, you've got the talk about "vital" endorsements over at the Vilello campaign. But without any polls in the field to give us some solid numbers, all of the "vital" talk is just talk.
So, I thought I'd see if I couldn't introduce a little bit of metrics into the conversation. By taking a serious look at the grassroots level, we might be able to get a real sense of who is really picking up the most momentum in this race. It's not scientific, but it's better than just talk. So, here we go:
First, endorsements:
Rick Vilello (38) – Mayor Vilello has the most public endorsements, but 14 of them come from outside of the PA 5th. And of those that are in the district, more than half of them - 21 - are from his home county of Clinton. One is even another Vilello.
Mark McCracken (4) – Mark McCracken has the public support so far of a couple former county commissioners, a current county commissioner and a township supervisor. His endorsements come from Mifflin, Centre and Jefferson counties.
Bill Cahir (12) – In reading the Cahir campaign's releases and the local news, it seems that Bill has a mix of Democratic County Chairs, elected officials and progressive activists on board so far. They come from Centre, Jefferson, Elk, McKean and Potter counties. And yesterday Bill got the support of VoteVets.org, the first national organization to stake out a position in our primary. Obviously the PA-05 is a large district and it appears that Cahir's support comes from a wide swath of it.
Second, grassroots fundraising:
Each of the candidates has an ActBlue page. Here's what they've raised so far:
Rick Vilello - $245 from 6 people
Mark McCracken - $660 from 4 people
Bill Cahir - $4,400 from 16 people
Third, the all-important facebook vote:
Some people are quick to discount facebook and other socnet sites, but I think this is a legitimate measure of grassroots activism. Just look at what Senator Obama's been able to accomplish already. More and more, facebook users are stepping away from their desks and knocking on doors, so facebook support is going to be important in a race like the one we have here in the 5th.
Rick Vilello - Rick's campaign has opted to go with the facebook group approach. His has 14 members.
Mark McCracken - Mark's campaign went with the facebook page approach. Oddly enough, he doesn't yet have any friends at all. Not even the creator of the page is listed as a supporter. Of course, I'm guessing that after his campaign reads this post, they will make some friends, quick.
Bill Cahir - Bill's campaign also went with the facebook page approach, and it looks like they're meeting a lot of success. As of writing this, Bill has 111 supporters on the page. The Cahir team is using the events feature very well and doing a lot of work with intergroup networking.
Well, there are some metrics to start with. Feel free to add your own.