Here in Lancaster County, the Democrats have done a lot of footwork in past decade, bringing the number of Democrats almost to as many as Republicans. Since you have to declare a party when you register, rather than asking for one party’s ballot or another in the spring elections, it means something.

Lancaster somewhat mirrors the state as a whole, with the city of Lancaster mostly Democratic, the rural areas Republican.

The Democrats like Obama, but hate the fact that he’s letting Harry and Nancy call the shots. They’d like to see him step up and do his job. The Republicans dislike what Obama stands for, but more than that, they hate the fact that Republican politicians are sitting back and letting the economy fail instead of stepping up and offering solutions.

It’s going to be a tough year for incumbents. If Spector woms the primary, he’ll win in the fall; if he loses in the spring, it’s hard to predict who will win.

Congressman Pitts voted against extending unemployment, and wants us to be in Afghanistan forever; he’s got a “safe” seat, but with positions like that, he might lose anyway.

The governorr’s race will depend on the corruption convictions. It’s hard to find a politician in Harrisburg that hasn’t been touched by the stench. It won’t be a vote between the Republican and the Democrat, it will be decided on the basis of the particular candidates the parties come up with.

The governor’s race will be won by a candidate, not party. There’s enough stench coming from Harrisburg, with politicians being prosecuted, that a promising manager with little political experience could well be our next governor, with a lot of people crossing party lines to vote against people who reek of corruption.

It’s not going to be a good year for incumbents. Anyone who projects winners at this point is probably going to be wrong.

We have a fairly nice statement of rights. We elect a legislature and an executive and a judiciary. That would pretty much stay the same in a new constitution, wouldn’t it?

I fear what might happen to the statement of rights if we turned loose a bunch of fanatical jehus with the task of writing a new state constitution. It appears to me that our existing constitution is just fine; all we have to do is start using it, and tossing people who ignore it into the hoosegow.