A busy election night

Fellow breadliner Amanda Gillooly and I rushed around Western Pennsylvania as we covered a couple races for www.pa2010.com. Below, I have included clips of our stories about the Democratic gubernatorial race and Republican primary in the 4th District. Also, PA2010 editor Dan Hirschhorn filed a story about the Senate primary that pitted Arlen Specter against Joe Sestak. Click on the headlines to read the full stories.

Onorato cruises to Dem gubernatorial victory
PITTSBURGH—Dan Onorato, the Allegheny County Executive who started plotting a path to the Governor’s Mansion years ago, took a big step toward getting there Tuesday, easily winning the Democratic gubernatorial primary in a race he was favored to win from the start.


Rothfus beats Buchanan by a wide margin
WEXFORD—Keith Rothfus said he just might be able to sleep Tuesday night. “Relieved is how I feel right now,” he said about an hour after he was declared the winner of the 4th District Republican primary. “But now we have even more work to do.”

Sestak crushes Specter in primary
WAYNE—Joseph A. Sestak, the former Navy Admiral and second-term congressman who challenged his party’s political establishment, won the Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, riding a wave of anti-incumbency and a brilliantly-run TV campaign to a victory that ended the 45-year political career of Senator Arlen Specter.

Wagner: 'Some things don't work out the way you want'
PITTSBURGH – As rain fell across Pennsylvania for most of Tuesday, Jack Wagner's gubernatorial campaign held on to a glimmer of hope that a lower state turnout coupled with the intense 12th District special election just might be enough for an upset victory in the Democratic primary. But as results came in from Allegheny County—a critical base shared by both Wagner and eventual winner Dan Onorato—it became increasingly clear there would be no surprise endings.

Rothfus: 'I'm not worthy'
WEXFORD—Before the polls closed Tuesday night, Republican Keith Rothfus said that win or lose, he was feeling one thing: Not worthy. "I am humbled by the support I’ve received,” the Edgeworth lawyer and 4th District candidate said with a smile here. “I know it sounds cliché, but—I’m not worthy. The people I have met on this campaign—they are just people who believe in this country and believe in what this country can be. And I struck a chord with these people.”

Arlen Specter's perfect storm
The political world watched almost stupefied as the national melodrama played itself out. The pre-primary polls told the startling story while the astonished pols read the increasingly clear tea leaves: Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania’s longest serving U.S. Senator, arguably the state’s most skilled and luckiest politician, was losing. And he was losing to an opponent few had heard of just about a month earlier, losing despite substantial advantages in money and party endorsements, losing despite support from the president, the vice president, and the state’s governor. Specter was losing despite anything he or anyone else could do to stop it.

(Photos by Michael Jones/PA2010.com)