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** 1. Controversy in Delco erupts after election board Dems approve last-minute voting centers ([link removed])
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By Todd Shepherd

Delaware County election board member John McBlain has resigned, accusing the panel of rushing to add three “voter service centers” in deeply Democratic parts of the suburban county, something he said adds a blatant element of unfairness to the county’s election process.

McBlain, the lone Republican on Delaware County’s election board, has been the minority party appointee on the three-member election board since 2021. All members of the election board are appointed by the county council, which has been majority-Democratic since early 2020. A provision in the county’s charter ensures a check on the majority party, however, requiring that at least one member of the election board be a representative of the minority party.

At a special meeting of the election board on Friday, McBlain announced his intention to quit effective at the end of November, saying his decision was due to the board’s approval of three voter service centers in Upper Darby, Chester, and Chester Heights — all three Democratic strongholds.

Why It Matters. This action follows a pattern of partisan behavior from the Delco board. Earlier in the year, the county council passed an ordinance that would allow it to reject the minority party’s nomination for the election board. The resolution went further, saying that the county had the “unfettered discretion” to reject as many candidates from the minority party as it liked until it found a suitable candidate.

Council Democrats passed the ordinance in January of 2023. Republicans quickly denounced the move as a power grab. When Republicans sued ([link removed]) in June, a spokesperson for the council accused Delco Republicans of playing politics. But a judge ruled ([link removed]) in December the ordinance was illegal and struck it down.

Quotable. “I think this is the Delaware County Democratic Party putting their hand on the scale with these voter services centers to literally get out the vote in highly partisan areas of the county without any consideration of [if] there’s a reason that they didn’t come in and offer it in Marple or Springfield. So I just wasn’t going to be part of it anymore. I’m disgusted with this partisanship showing its head at the 11th hour.” – John McBlain

Continue Reading ([link removed])


** 2. Does anyone want to win this race? ([link removed])
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By Andy Bloom

With about three weeks until Election Day, sometimes it’s debatable how badly either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wants to win this campaign.
If either candidate is “all in,” it doesn’t show.
Both candidates have avoided unfriendly media outlets. But both have done a couple of things to slightly change that narrative.

Why It Matters. We have more polling than ever and it’s closer than any presidential election ever. The polls are much closer than in 2020 when mid-October polling averages showed Joe Biden leading nationally by eight to 10 points. Biden won by 4.4 percent (Yes, Trump did lose, and Biden won), or at the same point in 2016, when Hillary was leading by six or seven points. While Hillary won the popular vote by just over two percentage points, Trump won the Electoral College and the presidency.

No poll shows one candidate with a definite advantage. The polls all have one thing in common: all results are within the margin of error.
Both candidates seem ready to double down on their strategies. Harris has one undeniable advantage: a huge cash advantage. While she claims she’s running a positive, forward-looking campaign. She’s flooding the airwaves with negative ads about Trump. The carpet bombing on every form of media will intensify in the final weeks. That could be the deciding factor.

Continue Reading ([link removed])


** 3. Lightning Round
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* Chris Gibbons: Remember Us ([link removed])
* Terry Tracy: The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board fails us once again ([link removed])
* Ben Mannes: FBI revisions undermine Democrats’ ‘crime is down’ talking point ([link removed])
* Christine Flowers: Celebrating Columbus Day, not Indigenous Peoples’ Day ([link removed])
* Guy Ciarrocchi: The kids are not all right ([link removed])
* Paul Davis: An ICE-cold report on illegal immigrant criminals in the U.S. ([link removed])
* Guy Ciarrocchi: Now they’re coming for the First Amendment ([link removed])


** 4. Podcast
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* Pro-Harris Republican Debates Pro-Trump Republican – Voices of Reason, Pennsylvania ([link removed])
* Rep. Scott Perry on PA Economy, Energy, and Infrastructure – Keystone Candidate Forum Preview ([link removed])


** 5. What we're reading
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Until the powers that be in the Democratic Party anointed Vice President Kamala Harris as Biden’s successor on the ticket, most of the media coverage of her was about her troubled and tempestuous relationships with everyone who works for her. Now, as her polling drops and the preemptive finger-pointing begins, Holly Otterbein and Elena Schneider at POLITICO write that top Democrats here in the Keystone State are worried that the Harris campaign is fumbling away their chance at victory here ([link removed]) — and with it, the whole election. Pre-election jitters or legitimate worry? We’ll find out in a couple of weeks!

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