With two Democrat Primary winners, (Vicites and Zapotosky) between them collecting some what 17,000 votes, if recollection serves, and another Democrat, Foltz, and Democrat/Independent Cellurale, and with an overwhelming voter registration edge of 3 to 1, the Democrats are poised to reclaim the majority in the county commissioners office.
They'd become a farce and not a force locally if they don't.
They're not going to throw away their one chance to regain the majority.
They'll have to plunk (that is vote for only one) for either one of the two Democratic Primary winners, Zapotosky or Vicites, or plunk for Cellurale or Foltz. They can't chance as they did in the 2003 General Election splitting votes and bypassing Primary Democrat contender Bill Lincoln to give Republicans their first majority on the board since the 1930s.
As a seasoned political junkie recently said on the Foltz program, before Foltz announced a write-in campaign, if there were 3 Democrats running, a Democrat majority would be a slam dunk as the lowest Democrat Primary vote-getter far outpaces any Republican candidate in either the Primary or General Election.
With Democrat registered Foltz in the political mix as a write-in candidate, the Democrats chances are increased, but only if Democrats "plunk" rather than "split" their votes.
The same with Cellurale. If Democrats plunk for only her, and not split a vote between a Democrat and one of the Republicans, she'd gain far more votes just by virtue of that 3 to 1 voter registration edge.
2003s General election was an anomaly because Bill Lincoln was not only disliked for himself, but also for his tight association with Fayette's Democratic Party leader, Fred Lebder.
That isn't happening this time around. Zapotosky is publicly supported by Lebder and he still received the most votes. Even from those who formerly proclaimed dislike for Lebder. Go figure.
The Vicites base dropped over the course of his 3 terms, but he still came within viability distance of Zapotosky., with only approximately 1000 votes difference.
If just the same voters vote similarly for one or the other of the pair, and don't split their votes, those two are assured the two majority seats.
What most should have learned from the 1999 election, too, when Sean Cavanagh switched from Democrat to Independent and back to Democrat, after his win - not only can there be a two-seat majority of Democrats, the entire administration could legally retain a 3-member Democrat board of county commissioners.
In other words, Foltz by virtue of his notoriety, and the Democrat voter registration swamp, could actually get more votes if voters "plunk" for him rather than either one or both of the Republican candidates.
The same could happen with Cellurale who would then be legally free to switch back to Democrat after her win.
To assure the Democrat majority, Democrats will have to refrain this time around from casting their votes for either of the two Republican candidates. Otherwise, what you said would hold true.
I don't believe Democrats are willing to chance letting the commissioners' office slip away again.
The only way they can assure winning is to plunk for one of the 4 Democrats.
Check the results in November to see what happened
http://server.lcsys.net/vote/vote.asp
C.J.
Foltz running as write-in in upcoming election
By Amy Zalar, Herald-Standard
10/18/2007
Updated 10/19/2007 12:06:03 AM EDT
Added: Thursday October 18, 2007 at 08:33 AM EST
Interesting
So, I wonder who "put Foltz into the race.?"
Was it Zapotosky trying to take votes from Vicities?
This will only help Vicities and Zimmerlink, because Sampson, Cellurale and Foltz doesn't stand a chance.
Zapotosky was already guaranteed the third spot, but now maybe it will backfire and someone might step into Zappy's spot.
If the Republicans stand together and vote straight ticket for Zimmerlink and Sampson like the dems do, then the democratic vote will get split 4 ways between Zappy, Celluwell, Vicitys, and Foltz.
To paraphrase another source..."Run Bob, Run!"
CJ, Dawson, PA
http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18928956&brd=2280&pag=797&dept_id=468520&startrow=1&maxrows=10
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