As I predicted yesterday, Wade Kagarise steamrolled his way to the Republican nomination for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, picking up 4,635 votes and besting his nearest challenger by 729 votes. While fellow republican Dave Andrews secured the Democratic nomination, the general election is all but already decided, to the point that Dave Andrews is questioning how much, if any, effort to devote to the November election.
Blair County judicial candidate Dave Andrews won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s primary, leaving him with a decision to make on how hard to campaign in the fall.
“I’ll have to look at where the votes came from and consider what I want to do,” Andrews said Tuesday night…
Why such resignation from the victor of the Democratic primary? It may have something to do with these numbers:
The results set up a Kagarise versus Andrews contest in the fall, but Andrews will be the underdog based on party affiliation. As of Tuesday’s primary, the county had 46,666 registered Republicans and 28,662 registered Democrats.
The only reason Democrats even had any voting options this primary season is due to candidates cross filing to run on both tickets. For races where no Republican cross filed this year, the most common phrase in today’s Altoona Mirror is ” There was no Democrat on the ballot.”
It is a shame that Attorney Andrews’ chances in November are roughly equal to the Chicago Bulls chances of winning this years NBA championship. While he is a Republican and I do not see eye to eye with him on politics, I do feel he would be a good judge, and he brought a refreshing attitude to the campaign.
Andrews also declined to accept campaign contributions from fellow attorneys and endorsements from politicians or elected officials.
“I think that should be state legislation,” he said. “The key to the judiciary is no partiality … and I wouldn’t want people coming in to the courtroom thinking otherwise.”
Silly rabbit, ethics are for losers. Future judges play politics!
Kagarise, who has been active in the Republican party, had the support of the party and endorsements from District Attorney Richard Consiglio and Sheriff Mitch Cooper.
Just as a side note, remember the name Sheriff Mitch Cooper, kids. Aside from having the perfect name for a television cop, Sheriff Mitch Cooper is heavily involved in the local tea party and will be a reoccurring character at the new Foster Disbelief. Tonight, on Tea Party Justice, Sheriff Mitch teams up with guest star Chuck Norris to bust the local Democratic party headquarters, which is actually a front for heroin smuggling Muslim terrorists employed by Obama to steal the guns of law abiding white citizens and distribute them to black people with their welfare checks. Only on the INSP network, right after The Waltons. Now back to your regularly scheduled post…
Deputy DA Kagarise ran a perfect campaign. From tv spots that used local tragedies to win voters emotions to highlighting his pro-life, pro-NRA stances to endear himself to the average far right citizen of Blair county. Dave Butterbaugh, an Altoona city councilman, shows how effective the strategy was while revealing his own questionable opinion on the desired qualifications for Judge:
Dave Butterbaugh, an Altoona city councilman, said Kagarise was the most conservative of the candidates, stating he is “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment.”
“He will fight crime the hardest,” Butterbaugh said.
Will he be prowling the streets with his six gun, challenging criminals to duels on the diamond (the diamond is a well known location in Hollidaysburg, near the Blair county courthouse) at high noon? And will he be fighting against crime or fighting for justice? He isn’t going to be a district attorney anymore. He is going to be a judge. Will he be able to separate himself from the prosecutors office?
For his part, Kagarise tried to say the right things after his victory:
When it came his turn to speak, Kagarise spoke to both Blair County Republicans and Democrats, stating, “A judge is a bipartisan job. … The issues that face the court system are not Republican or Democratic. They are community issues.”
Yes. Judge is a bipartisan job. And perhaps you can put your own politics aside and become a great judge. We will have to wait and see. But forgive me if I look at the campaign you ran and the endorsements you courted and see nothing but a far right partisan.
Foster Disbelief 
[…] may remember my posts earlier in the month concerning the primary election for judge of the court of common pleas in Blair County. As I previously pointed out, by winning […]