Election 2008

Reporters Notebook: PA Primary

Elizabeth Fiedler

Most of my primary election night was spent at John Dougherty's election night headquarters at Galdo's Entertainment and Catering Center in South Philadelphia. Local 98 IBEW Business Manager Dougherty was the front-runner in a 3-way race for the1st District State Senate Seat, which was held for decades by state Senator Vince Fumo who's facing an upcoming federal corruption trial.

I got to Galdo's around 7:30pm. The large squat building was bathed in rotating red and white lights, and "John Dougherty for State Senator" was projected onto the building in a number places. In front of the restaurant was a large tent, there was a d.j., dance music, and most of the large men in union t-shirts were carrying drinks. It looked a lot like a college graduation party. Dougherty was ahead in early poll results and everyone was smiling, talking about the Flyers' game, and how great "Doc's" victory speech was going to be. Inside the crowd was full of men in suits and women in dresses and heels...including former Mayoral candidate Tom Knox and his wife. All of the guests seemed to be enjoying the food -- and there was plenty -- two kinds of pizza, pasta, ham, roast beef, soft pretzels, cannoli, etc, etc, etc.

Around 9:30, just as I finished giving my last live report, I heard the latest poll numbers - Dougherty was losing now to business lawyer Larry Farnese. Another reporter told me his colleague at Farnese HQ expected Farnese's victory speech within minutes. I grab my gear, ran to the car, and got to Farnese's party just after his speech. He was standing outside with outgoing State Senator Vince Fumo. Farnese's victory was a big upset and everyone - even Farnese - had a look of elated surprise. I interviewed Farnese and Fumo, came back to the station to produce the next morning's material, and then called it a night...

-Elizabeth Fiedler

Kerry Grens

I spent the morning hours of primary day stopping by polling sites in Montgomery County and talking to voters. Among the towns I visited, Pottstown, in the western reaches of the county, offered up the most interesting interviews. (For one, it was the only town where I met with supporters of Ron Paul, who received 15% of republican votes in the county.)

Pottstown resident Julio Rivera voted for Barack Obama, who did quite well in Montgomery County - losing to Hillary Clinton by only a point and a half. Rivera admited to me that Hillary Clinton isn't a bad candidate, the problem is that she's a woman. "Females are not supposed to be rulers," he said. "That's going against God's will." Rivera continued on that he didn't think women deserved to be "abused," but men should certainly be the ones to make decisions.

It's possible, with Clinton's 10-point lead in Pennsylvania yesterday, that Rivera could find himself caught between conflicting ideals come November. But he had it all worked out. When I asked who he would vote for in a McCain-Clinton race, he replied: "Her, because I'm a democrat!"

-Kerry Grens

Alex Schmidt

Like a lot of counties that border big cities, Delco goes from urban to country in not too many miles. Covering Delaware County on Tuesday, I worked my way back to Philly from the west, where geese were flying overhead in Concord Township as I pulled into the polling place at 7:30 a.m. People were stopping in to vote, coffees in hand, on their way to work or to drop kids off at school. The polling place, off a country road, matched the setting: the rustically refurbished Darlington Arts Center, which looked like a fresh, modern barn. There was ample parking for people to perform their civic duties.

Things changed as I made my way east. I stopped at five polling places in all, and by the time I made it to Folcroft, they were drastically different. The polling place was the tiny Labelle Femme Beauty Shoppe, a low, brick facade building in a strip mall with about ten tightly packed spaces. The voter demographics shifted as well to become much more African American. Several voters complained that they weren't able to vote because their party affiliation was listed incorrectly - a complaint I didn't hear once, farther west.

My last stop was Darby, butting up against Philadelphia. The polling place was in a church hall off an alley, littered with weeds, trash and potholes. Parking was tough on the one-way streets surrounding the tiny road. Neighborhood residents were handing out flyers urging voters to cast their ballots for the candidates in local races who had pledged to fix the street lamps and the state of the roads. The transition across the county was striking. But Pennsylvania's super Tuesday was a sunny day this year. At each of the polling places, local residents were milling about, greeting neighbors who they hadn't seen since they last time they'd been out to vote.

-Alex Schmidt

Shai Ben-Yaacov

For the first time, I went through an entire election day without talking to or covering a single candidate. Instead, I spent the day talking to poll watchers from the Committee of Seventy and a national poll watch group working to solve voter issues. I talked to the head of that group, the National Campaign for Fair Elections, at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Though it was before the evening rush, he told me that there had already been problems at the polls. The group had gotten numerous reports of at least one voting machine not being up by the time the polls opened, people campaigning too close to polling places, and even reports of intimidation by campaign workers. Most interesting of all was his response when I asked if these problems are out of the ordinary for a primary. He said they're about on par with the other primaries in this election. Yikes!

I'd also like to reflect on covering the run up to the election, during which I covered a campaign stop by Chelsea Clinton in Northeast Philadelphia. As I was sternly informed by Clinton campaign workers, Chelsea is not taking questions. Whether this was a request from Chelsea herself or a calculated move by the campaign, I'm not sure. What I do know is that Chelsea's "enforcers" weren't playing around.

At one point, while trying to record an exchange between Chelsea and an excited Hillary supporter, one campaign worker moved in front of me, blocking my microphone with his body and pushing my arm out of the way. Another time I tried to record Chelsea, the same campaign worker pushed my microphone down with his hand. I glanced at him to see what the problem was and virtually had to duck the daggers flying at me from his eyes. While I was eventually able to record Chelsea talking to supporters, I did think: If this is what they don't want me recording, what exactly would qualify as positive publicity for the campaign?

-Shai Ben-Yaacov