There is a no-lose opportunity out there for current legislators to jump on board and call for the special session on reform, yet the overwhelming majority have not. That makes the majority of the current legislature a loser in this weeks Winners & Losers.

Former Congresswomen Melissa Hart has issued the following statement on the endorsement of the NRA for her opponent Congressman Jason Altmire.

“The Washington, D.C. NRA group has a policy of giving endorsement preference to incumbents if they have not voted against NRA issues.

Democratic Congressman Jason Altmire picked up a major endorsement today when the National Rifle Association endorsed his candidacy against Melissa Hart. The NRA endorsement is a major blow to Hart who needs every conservative group she can obtain to rally behind her and work for her effort to take back the seat she lost two years ago.

One has to wonder what the family reunion dinners are like at the Paterno household.  We know from his writings and his stances on the issues during his congressional run that Scott Paterno, youngest son of Joe Paterno, is a very conservative Republican.  We also know JoePa has stumped for many Republican candidates over the last few decades including George W. Bush.  Joe and Scott even did a fundraiser event with George Bush, Sr. when Scott ran for Congress. But, it appears not all of the Paterno clan falls in the Republican camp as another one of Joe’s sons, Jay Paterno, spent last night stumping with Democrats at a rally for Barack Obama.  Jay used part of his speaking time to take a shot at George W. Bush, who is father and Scott campaigned for in 2004..  Scott is known to be very outspoken about his views and this should make for interesting discussions.  Paterno and congressional candidate Mark McCracken were among the featured speakers in Center County. 

Former state Representative Jeff Habay has been scheduled to serve the remainder of his sentence in a halfway house.  Habay was first convicted in a bizarre case when violated state laws by having his legislative staff campaign on state time.  Then Habay mailed himself a “suspicious” white powder and blamed it on a political foe.  Habay was once considered a rising star in GOP politics. 

Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-04) held a telephone town hall meeting with constituents to discuss the energy crisis in America.  According Altmire, more than 10,700 constituents joined him on the call. 

The Centre County Board of Commissioners voted on Tuesday to do away with the electronic touch screen voting systems the county purchased just two years ago.  They will replace them with paper ballots.  The county will be purchasing more than $924K in new equipment that will read the paper ballots.

Politico.com has an article that lists the five democrats most likely to lose their seats in November. Paul Kanjorski PA-11, is on the list.

"There is a whole host of factors, but it goes back to former House Speaker Tip O’Neill’s maxim that “all politics is local.” Some local officials believe that Kanjorski hasn’t spent as much time in the district meeting with voters and that a string of easy wins has made him soft. And when he has met with constituents, the encounters haven’t helped him much."

Politico does point one Kanjorski’s one great advantage, his huge edge with cash in the bank compared to Lou Barletta.

Reform advocate Gene Stilp has sent out a comical press release calling for a “Miss Legislative Reform 2008” contest to be held in the capitol rotunda on Monday July 28th at 11 AM.

Of course the early favorite to win is former Miss Rain Day winner and Bonusgate star Angela Bertugli.

After I posted the 50 Most Powerful, a few were surprised the list didn’t have any print reporters.  An argument could be made for one or two to be included, but they just missed the cut.  So I decided to pacify the press corps in Harrisburg, who I am sure were scouring the list looking for their name.  I have developed the Ten Most Powerful PA reporters.  Sorry Alex and Dan, I had to make the list non-Politicker reporters.  One thing I realized making the list, there are a lot of quality print reporters in Pennsylvania as some quality reporters did not make the list.