Philly decides it (by not voting)

Timothy McNulty | November 4, 2009

It bears repeating -- Joan Orie Melvin won because she took away the Democratic base around Philly. From the Inquirer:

With 91 percent of ballots counted, Melvin had won every suburban county around Philadelphia except Montgomery, where Democrat Jack Panella of Easton led by only a few hundred votes.

"It's clear to me she won because of the wins in the Philadelphia suburbs, and that's something other Republican statewide candidates have not been able to do in recent years," said G. Terry Madonna, professor and pollster at Franklin and Marshall College.

And here's John Baer at the Daily News on turnout in the race:

She clearly was helped by a state judicial election pattern favoring women from western counties that draws gender and regional support. She also ran an aggressive, hard-hitting campaign, saying her opponent's acceptance of millions of dollars in contributions from trial lawyers and labor looked like "justice for sale."

And she might have benefited from Philly's World Series-mania (there was no focus on this race) and the surprise transit strike early yesterday morning that helped keep some of the city's overwhelmingly Democratic vote from going to the polls.

Something kept Democrats away.