Wednesday politicians

• Governor Ed Rendell continues to out-fundraise his opponent Lynn Swann significantly, and has a whopping warchest in the bank. More here.
  
  
• US Senate Candidate Bob Casey came out swinging at his opponent, Rick Santorum, telling a labor conference that Santorum is anti-labor because of his close relationship to big business interests. He also mentioned Santorum's assertion that women should stay at home, citing complaints from two-income families that couldn't get by on a single salary.
  
  
• An out-of-state organization is also running commercials against Casey, claiming that he isn't spending enough time at his current job. I think that this is the same organization that has raised questions before for not adhering to PAC rules, but I couldn't access the older articles to confirm -- ah yes, the Daily News confirms my suspicions.
  
  
• The Daily News looks ahead to the upcoming debate between Democratic Senate hopefuls Bob Casey, Chuck Pennacchio, and Alan Sandals. They predict that Sandals and Pennacchio will mostly need to distinguish themselves from each other, as the contrasts with Casey are already clear.
  
  
• Apparently Philadelphia's ever-controversial District Attorney, Lynne Abraham, has decided to endorse Larry Farnese, a challenger to State Rep. Babette Josephs, apparently for Tough on Crime reasons. The announcement fest was crashed by Josephs supporters. Dan at YPP was unimpressed by Abraham's choice.
  
  I gotta say, in a complete vacuum, the lone endorsements of Abraham and Dougherty would be enough to make me wonder about this guy. Add that to Josephs' strong progressive record and Farnese's vague stances on the issues (his responses to NN referred readers to his barely accessible website, which has a total of one page of generalities, and he seems to be banking on anti-incumbent fervor), and my choice in this race is a no-brainer. Vote Babette.
  
  
• Philadelphia City Councilman (for two more months) Rick Mariano wrote his constituents, not to apologize for leaving them unrepresented, but to ask for their prayers. It also promises that his office will remain open, a question that really isn't up to him. At least he did admit to not being perfect...
  
  
• Finally, Above Average Jane reports on a UPenn Democrats event that featured some prominent local bloggers and a number of local pols and political candidates, including Paul Lang, Michael Nutter, Lois Murphy, Joe Hoeffel, and Patrick Murphy. Also present was Dennis Spivack, a Penn alum and congressional candidate in Delaware. Jane gives her impressions of everybody who spoke -- it sounds like a rousing event!