On Monday, Dauphin County Commissioner and former Steelton mayor George Hartwick formally endorsed Senator Obama for president. Dauphin County is "guns and bitter" country in Central Pennsylvania and encompasses the greater Harrisburg area.
I have a particular interest in this endorsement because I lived in Dauphin County for three years. As endorsements go, this isn't Senator Casey, but it's pretty big for the area.
The mayor of Harrisburg has already endorsed Senator Clinton. The endorsement by Hartwick is seen as balancing that influence out. It's interesting to note several things about this endorsement:
He and (Harrisburg Mayor) Reed have not discussed the candidates, Hartwick said, but other state and national political leaders have tried to influence Hartwick to support Clinton.
"It could have been very easy for me to sit this one out," he said. "This is too important."
A young, white, and up and coming politician in central PA bucking the political establishment is news. Who is George Hartwick? Check out this interview with Hartwick from 2001, when he was serving as mayor of Steelton. What left the biggest impression on me was his answer to the final question:
Nothing replaces hard work. I may not be the most intelligent individual, and I may not be the person with the silver spoon, or the most-gifted, but I know one thing: no one will outwork me. No one will outwork me.
This is the kind of politician that Obama attracts. This is the kind of hard-working, dedicated, optimistic, and talented local mover and shaker that sees in Obama an opportunity for real change.
As former Mayor of Steelton Borough, Hartwick worked to re-invigorate a town hit hard over the years by a declining domestic steel industry. The borough earned designation as a "Main Street Community," enabling him to secure funds to manage downtown revitalization. Hartwick convened many diverse parties to create a land- use strategy for the Bethlehem Steel property, and was a catalyst for a Comprehensive Economic Development Plan to create jobs and broaden the borough's tax base.
Hartwick understands the challenges that the residents of these struggling former industry towns face. He has been on the front lines of these problems, working to revitalize and reinvigorate the towns and lives of real Pennsylvanians. And Commissioner Hartwick believes Senator Obama is the man to tackle these problems from the national level.
I've commented before about the demographics of Dauphin County and the de facto segregation that exists still today. Like the mayor of Camp Hill, this endorsement signals to me that things in Central PA are changing, and for the better.
With the support of men like George Hartwick, Obama soldiers on to victory - not through the use of political opportunism, gotcha politics, or false pandering - but through hard work and truth-telling, two things that central Pennsylvanians appreciate much more than the national media understands.