Dem
54
Ties
1
GOP
45
No one really has any doubt that Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) will officially announce his presidential run very soon after he trounces Stacy Garrity (R) and is reelected in a landslide. But his trigger finger got so itchy that he couldn't even hold off for 2 weeks. Consequently, he just announced his presidential PAC. Two more weeks of begging for donations isn't going to matter but it does tell Pennsylvania voters that he is not really interested in the job he wants them to hire him for on Nov. 3. Josh, if you are reading this, you are supposed to keep your ambitions in check until at least the day after the midterms. This is not cool. On the other hand, in an era where a politician who gets a 50% approval is considered a miracle worker, maybe with his 62% approval rating, he can get away with stuff no one else this side of Bernie can pull off.
Shapiro brings three things to a presidential campaign that no other likely candidate has: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. These are not small things since together they have 44 electoral votes. He is very popular in his own state, is an excellent public speaker, is young, but not too young (53), and understands the Rust Belt better than any of his likely opponents.
Although Israel is going to be a big issue in the primaries and Shapiro is Jewish, the fact that the Pennsylvania governor's mansion was firebombed during Passover in a terrorist attack makes Shapiro uniquely qualified to speak out against bigotry in all its ugly forms. He could address Black voters, Latino voters, and even Muslim voters, and say: "My life and my family have been viciously attacked by a violent bigot. I feel your pain. I know what it is like. I really do." And it could well work. Maybe he could adopt the instrumental theme song from Driving Miss Daisy as his campaign theme song. Jumping the gun by 2 weeks is a small thing, but voters prefer their politicians to be a little less obvious about their aspirations for higher office when running for a lower one. (V)