Wake-Up Call: Tuesday, August 19, 2008

With the PolitickerPA.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Pennsylvania's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.

With the PolitickerPA.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Pennslyvania's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.

Politicker.com Wake-Up Calls will be on hiatus through Friday and will return Monday, Aug. 25. Please check back with PolitickerPA.com for complete coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Denver next week.

Rendell: ‘Far too early’ to forecast 2010 governor’s race

A few hours after PolitickerPA.com reported on the crowded early field for the 2010 governor's race, the man who still has 2 1/2 years left in the governor's mansion said that anything and everything could change between now and that distant election day. (PolitickerPA.com, Dan Hirschorn)

Link: http://www.politickerpa.com/danh/1267/rendell-far-too-early-forecast-201...

GOP tries to to push Libertarian Barr off Pennsylvania ballot

HARRISBURG -- A Republican Party leader filed court papers Monday aimed at getting Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr taken off the Pennsylvania ballot. (Tribune Review, AP)

Link: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_583727.html

Former Mayor Masloff cancels DNC plans because of poor health

The 91-year-old former mayor of Pittsburgh who was slated to be the oldest delegate at the Democratic National Convention will not be attending.

Sophie Masloff says she has been forced to cancel at the last minute due to poor health. She says it is the first convention since 1960 that she will not be attending. She says she is heartbroken. (Tribune Review, AP)

Link: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_583726.html

Obama to pony up street money in November

REST ASSURED, Philadelphia. Come Election Day, there will be street money.

According to U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, the local Democratic Party chairman, Sen. Barack Obama's general-election presidential campaign in Philadelphia will be run different from his primary operation, which relied more on volunteers than on Democratic ward leaders and did not provide street money on Election Day. (Philly Daily News, Catherine Lucey)

Link: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20080819_Obama_to_pony_up_street_m...

Lauding ‘cathartic’ effect of roll-call vote, Rendell to cast his convention vote for Clinton

With devotees of defeated U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) relishing the chance to publicly back her one more time during a roll-call vote at the Democratic convention next week, Clinton's largest backer in Pennsylvania says that he too will take the opportunity to cast his vote for Clinton. (PolitickerPA.com, Dan Hirschorn)

Link: http://www.politickerpa.com/danh/1270/lauding-cathartic-effect-roll-call...

Feds outline their trial plan vs. Fumo

Federal prosecutors said yesterday in a court filing that some of their own witnesses in the federal corruption case against state Sen. Vince Fumo may be "hostile" when they are questioned by the government next month at Fumo's trial. (Inquirer, Michael Hinkelman)

Link: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20080819_Feds_outline_their_trial_...

Two DHS managers get brief suspensions

The city has dealt out minor punishments - brief suspensions without pay - to Pamela Mayo and Wesley Brown, senior Department of Human Services managers who supervised workers implicated in the starvation death in 2006 of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly. (Inquirer, Patrick Kerkstra)

Link: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20080819_Two_DHS_managers_get_brief...

U.S. puts Fumo fraud at $3.5 million

With another codefendant of State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo poised to plead guilty today, federal prosecutors yesterday laid out what they called an "extensive" case of fraud and obstructing justice against Fumo, and gave a higher estimate of the amount of the alleged fraud. (Inquirer, Emilie Lounsberry)

Link: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20080819_U_S__puts_Fumo_fraud_at__3...

What protesters had to say

WILKES-BARRE – Here’s what some attendees at Monday’s rally, to call for a halt to the implementation of Luzerne County’s reassessment and to support the elimination of property taxes, had to say: (Times Leader, Steve Mocarsky)

Link: http://www.timesleader.com/news/What_protesters_had_to_say_08-18-2008.ht...

Few voters switching parties

Most voters who changed political parties for the primary election haven’t switched back to their original parties as officials had predicted, Luzerne County Election Board members learned Monday.

Statistics released Monday show 4,114 voters switched political parties between the November 2007 general election and the April 22 primary. That included 3,315 changes to Democrat and 559 to Republican. (Times Leader, Jennifer Learn-Andes)

Link: http://www.timesleader.com/news/Few_voters_switching_parties_08-18-2008....

Brackenridge firm may be on the move

Gov. Ed Rendell is scheduled to visit a Findlay Township industrial park on Wednesday to announce new development stemming from a Brackenridge-based company. (Tribune Review, Celanie Polanick)

Link: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_583667.html

GOP legislators question employment of gambling consultant

HARRISBURG -- Two Republican lawmakers have asked the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to determine whether there's a "gross violation" of state ethics law in the board's employment of its former executive director as a consultant. (Tribune Review, Brad Bumsted)

Link: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_583580.html

Pittsburgh City Council OKs debt refinancing

Pittsburgh taxpayers will get a little more and spend a little less to refinance some of the city's considerable debt. (Tribune Review, Staff)

Link: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_583577.html

State House GOP staffers subpoenaed

PITTSBURGH — The state attorney general has subpoenaed several state House Republican staff members as part of an investigation into whether state money was used to pay for political campaign work, according to a caucus spokesman. (Times Leader, AP)

Link: http://www.timesleader.com/news/State_House_GOP_staffers_subpoenaed_08-1...

Will GOP get rural votes?

BELLEVILLE— The folks in this picturesque mountain community have been voting overwhelmingly Republican in national elections for decades. (Times Leader, AP)

Link: http://www.timesleader.com/news/Will_GOP_get_rural_votes__08-17-2008.htm...

With the PolitickerPA.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Pennsylvania's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.