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Romney shuns Corbett as guv's unpopularity continues rise
Mitt Romney has been calling on Republican governors from New Jersey's Chris Christie to Louisiana's Bobby Jindal for help. Not, it seems, invited to the party: Pennsylvania's Gov. Tom Corbett.
Romney shuns Corbett as guv's unpopularity continues rise
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As presidential hopeful Mitt Romney blazes his campaign trail, he’s been calling on Republican governors from New Jersey’s Chris Christie to Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal for help. Not, it seems, invited to the party: Pennsylvania’s Gov. Tom Corbett.
A new Franklin & Marshall College poll might hold a clue as to why: Corbett isn’t winning any popularity contests these days. The proportion of Pennsylvanians who view him unfavorably has shot to 42 percent; just 32 percent hold favorable views. His job approval fell below 30 percent for the first time.
Corbett's public relations difficulties have prompted an early discussion of which Democrats might run against him in 2014 (it's a long list). It also means the governor might not be a helpful advocate for Romney's presidential campaign in this much-watched swing state. If Corbett does appear on behalf of Romney, Democrats might focus attacks on the governor's unpopular cuts to education and the safety net (the Democratic National Committee has already run an ad slamming Corbett's social conservatism, highlighting his infamous comment that women, who under a now-shelved bill would be forced to undergo a pre-abortion ultrasound, “just have to close your eyes”).
Corbett has not, to my knowledge, made a single public appearance with Romney: a June visit to Cornwall Furnace in Lebanon County [thanks to the Inky's Amy Worden for the tip]. And he was not at any of vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan's Tuesday events across Pennsylvania, which ended with an expensive and Occupy-protested fundraiser at the Union League. The Romney campaign did not respond to a call requesting information about Ryan's visit to the city.
And so the fortunes of Corbett and Romney (the latter continues to lag behind President Barack Obama in state polls) could become intertwined ― to the detriment of both.
The cut-happy governor, who has delivered low taxes for gas drillers and a multi-billion-dollar tax subsidy for Shell, could draw unfavorable comparisons to Romney, who has been criticized for not releasing old tax returns and for his work at private equity firm Bain Capital. Ryan's presence on the ticket won't help: His proposed huge tax breaks for the wealthy and cuts to the safety net seem like the national embodiment of Corbett's state-level agenda.
Yet Corbett keeps embroiling himself in polarizing national debates.
The state's controversial new law that requires voters to present certain forms of identification to vote, and that could disenfranchise thousands, is headed to a divided state Supreme Court after a Commonwealth Court judge ruled in favor of the law last week. The national media has followed the case closely and subjected Corbett to frequent and high-profile scrutiny.
This week, Corbett responded to a Department of Justice civil rights investigation of the voter ID law by claiming it was “fueled by political motivation.” In his letter, Corbett General Counsel James D. Schultz went beyond defending voter ID and mocked the federal government for not investigating a 2008 case of Philadelphia voter intimidation, ostensibly carried out by members of the New Black Panther Party and a very big deal on Fox News, that (as I investigated in 2010) never happened.
And then there are growing accusations, across the political spectrum, that Corbett failed to aggressively investigate convicted child sexual abuser Jerry Sandusky while Attorney General because he did not want to alienate the state's powerful Penn State constituency ahead of his run for governor.
Romney might wish to keep Corbett out of the headlines. But circumstances might not oblige.
Corbett voted for HR 3 too!!!!
Ok, I gotta ask: Governor Corbett are you Pro-Choice or should I just close my eyes.
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