Other Wednesday news

• Politicians
  
  
  
  • Rendell and Swann will debate tonight, the first debate in the gubernatorial race. Expect showers of analysis tomorrow. PCN at 9 and 10pm.
    
    
  • An Inquirer article looks at how Mike Fitzpatrick uses his hometown advantage in his race to keep his 8th district Congressional seat.
    
    
  • AAJane gives a summary of the latest Fitzpatrick-Murphy debate, which took place on Michael Smerconish's talk radio show.
    
    
  • The anti-Santorum forces will be rallied by Dan Savage, the nationwide sex columnist whose beef with the [uptight] Senator is rather personal. He'll be appearing at a fundraiser for Philadelphians Against Santorum, one of many novel ways that organization has chosen to oppose their target. (Nice profile of PAS and of Ray Murphy's history here too.)
    
    
  • In a Daily News opinion piece, Ed Goppelt of Hallwatch lays into State Sen. Vince Fumo for his role in letting the state take away control of casino development from the city of Philadelphia, specifically for moderating the new law in a way that will probably make it withstand legal challenge.
  
  
• Issues
  
  
  
  • Surprising no one, state legislators gave the one-gun-per-month bill a thumbs down in the third day of their special session.
    
    
  • The Philadelphia Weekly takes the Inquirer to task for its neglect of casino issues, especially neighborhood rallies and the like.
    
    
  • The PW also does a quick bar-hop to find out how the smoking ban is being received (and enforced), finding not much change at many institutions, where proprietors are waiting for official notice.
    
    
  • Another PW story looks at Philadelphia's violence problems by way of its low police staffing levels, and the degree to which transit, campus, and other private cops have to pick up the slack.
    
    
  • Dan at YPP muses on the relative merits of getting access to the political system versus changing it completely, and how progressives should weigh the two goals.
    
    
  • Another YPP poster alerts us to current efforts on green issues in Philadelphia.