All manner of theories exist as to why Pennsylvania, the Keystone State, birthplace of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, has produced only one president – James Buchanan.

Some attribute it to the undercutting of promising favorite sons by their own jealous colleagues and others to the dominant concern of governors and senators being to protect the state’s vital manufacturing interests.

Gov. Samuel Pennypacker wrote that his prospects for a presidential run at the turn of the 20th century fizzled when he enacted a newspaper libel or “muzzle law” and the newspapers of the state turned against him.  READ MORE »

A farmer before he entered politics, Gov. Joseph Ritner was a self-made and self-educated man in many respects. He was the butt of a joke told in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect of how his wife and daughters all thought they had been elected governors along with him in 1835.

An unlikely individual to have a poem named after him by a major American poet.

But “Ritner” by John Greenleaf Whittier pays homage to a Pennsylvania politician who spoke out against slavery at a time when it was unpopular to do so even in the North. READ MORE »

The eager reception among our elected leaders to a movie suggesting that Abraham Lincoln was a politician after all just like them is the latest example of something that started with Lincoln’s death at the hands of an assassin.

Politicians of all stripes and sizes have striven to get right with Lincoln as a famous 1951 essay by historian David Donald put it. READ MORE »

No question looms larger in Pennsylvania politics than Gov. Tom Corbett’s reelection prospects. Democrats are positively giddy over the possibility of making history and ending the infamous two-term rule. Even some Republican activists have expressed concerns about Corbett’s candidacy. Most of the debate focuses on the governor’s low job performance standing–hovering in the 30 to 40 percent positive range. The fact is that nobody really knows whether Corbett can win a second term.

The variables are many: 1) the health of the overall economy, 2) the success or failure of his agenda, 3) the fiscal situation of the state, 4) the infamous 6-year itch plaguing the party that holds the presidency, 5) the strengths and weaknesses of potential rivals—just to mention five. My writing partner, Mike Young, and I wrote a column recently analyzing a few of the important aspects in play. In this blog, I extend our argument by looking at what recent history tells us about the reelection of Pennsylvania governors. READ MORE »

Mounted on horseback, Col. Matthew S. Quay led the 134th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers into the path of deadly Confederate cannon and sharpshooters atop Marye’s Heights during the battle of Fredericksburg on Dec. 13, 1862.

The future Pennsylvania political boss and U.S. Senator received a Medal of Honor for his valor that day. The honor came 25 years late, but even though Quay was a powerful politician by that time there was little doubt among his former comrades that he deserved it. READ MORE »