Sure Sign the Governor's Race Is Over

If you had any doubts about the viability of Lynn Swann's campaign for the Governor's mansion this is it: Rendell is out raising money for legislative candidates and gave Bob Casey $200,000 from his own political supporters. Campaigning for local state House and Senate candidates just makes sense. Rendell needs a Democratic majority in at least one chamber and this is a great year to accomplish such change. The fact he's also helping the U.S. Senate candidate is significant, along with the amount.

Rendell has closely guarded the sources for his immense campaign warchests. Carrie Budoff reports he handed a fistfull of checks to the Casey organization at an event in Philadelphia. If Rendell is tapping his money people for Casey it means he's confident he has all h eneeds to win. The Guv is an old political hand. There's no way he'd do this if he thought there was an iota of a chance his own race would be close. Carrie reports:

Rendell, a prolific fund-raiser who once headed the Democratic National Committee, said asking his finance committee to work for Casey was difficult "because they raise so much money for me." The most recent reports showed Rendell with $13.7 million on hand and his Republican challenger, Lynn Swann, with $3.3 million.

Indeed, a half-hour before the event, one Rendell fund-raiser said a lot of "arm twisting" was going on to create a good showing.

A Casey spokesman said, "Bob appreciates all of his help."

This is something Republicans have been very good at for years: they shephard their cash resources to the candidates in need. It's good to see Rendell getting on board as a team player. Electing Dems to the state legislature will make his second term much easier and a Democratic Senator in Washington will provide him with more influence on the Federal level.