Ed Rendell defeats Bob Casey

The Democratic primaries held May 21 brought an end to the grueling year-long campaign of the race for governor.

Former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell had an unexpected victory in pursuit of the Democratic nomination.

Claiming 56 percent of the Pennsylvanian Democratic vote, Rendell defeated State Auditor General Bob Casey, Jr.

Casey, who received only 44 percent of the vote, was formally endorsed by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in January. At that time, Rendell had temporarily withdrawn from the race.

While Rendell lacked the official support of his party, he was endorsed by Philadelphia Mayor John Street and Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham.

Democrats and Casey supporters were virtually convinced that Casey would win, since he had a strong following in western Pennsylvania.

The western part of the state is traditionally known to have a larger voter turnout, and was speculated to generally determine the outcome of the election.

However, an unexpected surge of votes in Philadelphia and southeast Pennsylvania brought Rendell to the formal state party nomination.

The southeastern part of the state held an abnormally large voter turnout of 35 percent, compared to the 30 percent voter turnout for the rest of Pennsylvania.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Rendell earned four out of every five votes cast in the Philadelphia region. The votes gained by the strong turnout brought Rendell to victory and the official party nomination.

In November, Rendell will race against Republican candidate Mike Fisher and Green Party candidate Michael Morill.

Rendell and his supporters were ecstatic over their victory, as they celebrated the win at the Warwick Hotel in downtown Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.

"[Rendell] is very happy over the level of support he received from the people of Pennsylvania," Rendell spokesman Dan Fee said.

While the majority of the western areas voted for Casey at the polls, Centre county -- where the Penn State campus at State College is located -- gave Rendell the majority of their vote.

"He was especially surprised with the support he received from some of the more western and rural counties," Fee added.

As for Philadelphia's voter turnout, Rendell was pleased that he had the support of his home city.

"We're democrats and we love to see people exercising their right to vote," Fee said. "We knew that the southeast region was going to be a good area, but the turnout was just amazing."

The Casey campaign could not be reached for contact.

The Democratic primaries were almost moved from the May 21 date to July 16, following a redistricting of the Philadelphia region.

However, only weeks before the May date, the state Supreme Court threw out the latest districting drafts, saying that they were made too hastily for the spring primary vote.

According to Penn Political Science professor Henry Teune, a change in the election's date was speculated to impact voter turnout.

"The union guys should turn out for Casey," Teune said in an earlier interview. "They'll be sitting around drinking beers [in July]. The University kids are 'ra-ra' for Rendell but they're not going to be campaigning for Rendell in July."

Fortunately for Rendell, the May date brought the voter turnout to its highest in over a decade.

However, Rendell's campaign still has a long way to go.

"We think the race will be a close one," Fee said. "We plan on doing just what we did for the primaries -- getting out there and showing them that Rendell is the best candidate."

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