The race to replace retiring GOP Congressman John Peterson is getting interestinger and interestinger.
This is a rural R+10 district, so the hopes of a turnover are small, but the Republicans sure are helping those hopes to grow.
Yesterday, spoiled rich kid Santorum-wannabe Matt Shaner threw his hat in the ring. And today, former Centre County Commissioner Chris Exarchos did the same.
Why this is so funny below the fold
2 popular and well-respected Republican state lawmakers (Jake Corman and Kerry Benninghoff) have opted out of running for this seat. So a few other county GOP bigwigs wanted to come up with a consensus candidate from the Centre County area, guaranteeing that the next Congressman come from this populous area rather than the much more rural northwest part of the district.
But 28-year-old Matt Shaner, son of a wealthy businessman and former Santorum staffer, was having none of that consensus crap! On paper he would seem like a good choice for the GOP, given his youth, connections, and wealth. But there is a dealbreaker:
In January 2007, Shaner telephoned District Attorney Michael Madeira for advice when Patton Township police were outside Shaner’s home trying to get him to come outside after a car crash that police said was alcohol-related.
In an interview Wednesday, Shaner said "I’m sure it very well could be a hindrance" to his campaign, and he added: "I made a major mistake with how I handled the whole incident. Obviously, I should not have been driving that evening. Obviously, it’s something that caused me and my family great embarrassment. It was probably the biggest mistake I made in my life and I probably handled it badly in the aftermath."
Of course, he was never charged with DUI. The longer version of the story is that he had his wife answer the door for him. So, we have a rich kid, employed by daddy, driving drunk, causing an accident, leaving the scene, going home to hide behind his wife while calling the family friend Republican DA, and getting out of any charges. He simply can't be the nominee. You should see some of the reader comments in the article linked above. He puts this seat at risk for the GOP should a viable Democrat emerge.
So now former Centre County Commissioner Chris Exarchos is going to run. This will split up the GOP votes in Centre County (if someone from the other part of the district decides to run, I imagine there will be some serious Shaner arm-twisiting going on behind the scenes). Exarchos has his own drawbacks as well. Last year, he took his incumbent seat for granted and was narrowly defeated in the primary for County Commissioner. Rather than take his lumps, he decided to run a write-in campaign. He split the Republican vote, resulting in a 2-1 Dem majority of the board. Many county Republicans are very angry about this, to say the least. Would this anger lower his chances? I don't know.
On the Democratic side, there are still no takers. I think maybe they're waiting to size up how the Republican field fills out. There are a couple good possibilities though. And given the 2 flawed candidates already declared, a strong Democrat could make a good showing.