My last diary was a run-down of the 12 candidates who have filed to replace retiring Rep. John Peterson. Looking at my previous diaries, it should be clear that I read a lot about this race. Oh, the many Google Alerts I get!
Anyway, in that last diary, I made an offhand summarization of one of the Republican candidates, Keith Richardson, and included a link to his website. It seems Mr. Richardson saw that diary and has taken issue with what I wrote. He thinks I just made it all up, apparently.
Well, Since I can't add a comment to his blog, Lexis Nexis redeems me on the flip.
What I originally wrote:
I don't know very much about the other 6 GOP candidates. But one of them is a real wingnut. Keith Richardson is a Baptist pastor with a law degree, and considers Rick Santorum his political role model. The website linked above is pretty flashy. He also has some connections to the right-wing Commonwealth Foundation.
What Mr. Richardson wrote in his campaign blog in response:
I’m flattered, of course, by the association to Rick Santorum and the Commonwealth Foundation. But since neither are mentioned on my website and I’ve never spoken with the blogger, I have to wonder how he knows who my political role models are and which "right-wing" organizations I am connected to. Oh well, we wouldn’t want something as trivial as truth to interfere with a good blog, now would we?
The relevant parts of the February 5th Centre Daily Times article by Mike Joseph (no longer available on-line):
Feb. 5--A Baptist pastor from Clarion became the ninth Republican to seek the 5th Congressional District nomination, saying Monday that he adds a voice of fiscal conservatism and a missing voice of moral convictions to the campaign.
. . .
Richardson's campaign is supported by political consulting firm Media Strategies LLC, and his announcement Monday was accompanied by a fully developed Web site and, as his consultant, former state lawmaker Jeff Coleman, who represented Armstrong and Indiana counties and is now a member of the conservative think tank Commonwealth Foundation.
In an interview, Richardson, 46, described some of his political models as "conservatives in the mold of (former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania) Rick Santorum."
Game. Set. Match. Thank you. Mr. Richardson, don't you know what you've said in interviews?
While I'm bothering to write a diary, I'll include some more coverage of the race.
Fighting Dem Bill Cahir added a bio to his website.
CQ Politics had a nice article on all the Congressional seats in PA, including this one, on Friday.
The Bradford Era profiled Richard Vilello, who is running for the Democratic nomination.
And finally, 6 of the 9 Republican candidates (including our friend Keith Richardson, who made quite a splash - Kudos to you on that!) spoke Saturday night at a Clinton County GOP function. There was one cringe-inducing quote from Derek Walker:
Derek Walker, a businessman, echoing Shaner, called for tax incentives to develop new energy resources and an attitude that takes the politics out of the war in Iraq.
"Let’s start listening to Gen. Petraeus and stop listening to the Dixie Chicks," he said.
The end of the article includes a note about new party registrations that made me smile:
Between Jan. 7 and Feb. 12, the ranks of registered Republicans have increased by 37, the ranks of no-affiliation voters have dwindled by 81 and the ranks of registered Democrats have increased by 320.
The figures do not include 500 new voter registration forms completed by Penn State students last week.
To be clear, that doesn't really make up for the 45,000 registration advantage Republicans have in the district already. This race continues to be a long-shot for us.