1.  Diven or Fontana?  Who cares, at least we get to see the swim coach make a fool of himself by running unnoticed by the media!

Fontana seems to be getting momentum now, but I still think Diven will pull through.

2.  The Republican Committee is broke, canceled their 105th Lincoln Day Dinner (the first time that has ever happened), but can still pay their executive director over $44,000 a year.

Monica deserves to be paid a lot more than that, trust me.

3.  Habay will be a convicted felon but is still casting votes on the house floor.

Pathetic, isn't it?

4.  "Bobby O" will be our new mayor.

Weinroth would be a great mayor too, but the GOP is MIA.

5.  Tom Flaherty almost got the Republican City Committee endorsement (as if it would have done anything)

The fact that this guy will most likely end up as a judge is scary.

9.  What ever happened to Judge McFalls?

Good question!  I witnessed his arrest down on the Waterfront that night.

Mark,

My criticism and sarcasm may have been harsh, but I was being honest.  Rather than spew negativism, let me ask you some questions about you and the campaign.  Each of these questions are important to me, and I am asking them for a serious reason.  Maybe you can change my mind about your campaign.

What do you think the top three issues are in your district?

Let’s say the voter turnout is 48,000.  What portion of that vote do you see yourself getting, and why?

Do you trust the voters of the 42nd district will make an informed decision when electing their next Senator?

When the number one issue in the 42nd district is property taxes, why do you choose to deal with other items like corporate welfare, pool schedules, trash pick-up and so on?

Name what you see your number 1 accomplishment is that defines your term/terms as senator.

An old woman comes into your State Senate office and tells you that she can no longer afford her property taxes and unless she pays $2500 in back taxes by month’s end, her house will be sold at sheriff’s sale.  What would you do for her, or what would you tell her?

I hope to hear from you, and only ask these questions because it will help me make a better informed decision.

Thanks.

Mark,

I didn't say turnout was going to be 48,000.  That number was a hypothetical.  Otherwise good answers to the questions I posed.  Furthermore, I think your turnout numbers were either a positive reflection on you or a negative reflection on your opponents.  7+% is never bad for a third party candidate. 4% or lower is the norm.  However, if you want to figure it out for yourself, I think you should compare the % of ind vote in the 2004 presidential election or 2002 gubernatorial race if you are merely looking for a gauge.

As far as figuring out who voted, you may want to see if the election department still prints out a "detailed analysis" of voter turnout.  It is much different from what they put on their website.  What they used to print out gave the numbers of voters per party by ward and district, and if I remember correctly, they only did it for the primary.  Give them a call and see if they have it down there.  They used to print it up on those old reams of connected computer paper.

As far as running numbers and comparing races, it really depends on what you want to find.  Special Elections are always hard to compare to other races.  If you wanted to see how you did in comparison to republican candidates who were hung out to dry, you could look at: http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/elect/200211gen/SDistrict42.asp  Otherwise, you would have to mention what you were specifically looking for in you analysis, and I think I/we could figure out what race you could compare it with.