Nader is Right

About this.

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader came to Harrisburg Thursday with unfinished business on his mind.

Nader wants relief from an $81,102 penalty for legal costs following court battles over his presidential nomination petition in 2004. He said he will file a challenge with the state Supreme Court.

Nader said those damages should be dropped in light of criminal charges brought this month by Attorney General Tom Corbett against 12 people with ties to the state House Democratic caucus. Among allegations of illegal activities, Corbett said House Democratic staffers were deployed on state time in a successful effort to get Nader knocked off the ballot four years ago.

One hundred percent right. The fines at least should be suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

Protecting Marriage

This is kind of brilliant. Pennsylvania has been having one of those dreary episodes where very Republican legislators from very Republican, Christian districts are attempting to amend the state constitution to define marriage as solely between one man and one woman and ban civil unions.

This"Marriage Protection Act" comes despite the fact such dire threats to marriage as more marriage already are barred by the 1996 "Defense of Marriage Act."

But the backers are at great pains to insist this is not about discrimination. And it is not about religion. It's simply, entirely about protecting marriage, you see.

Against this stampede of stupid, a classically shady Philadelphia Democrat ward-lord named Vince Fumo has been fighting a rear-guard (ahem!) action. This week he unveiled his most simple secret weapon.

Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia, today plans to propose that Pennsylvania outlaw most divorces. Yes, make it illegal to get a divorce.

As the Senate prepares to take up Senate Bill 1250, which would amend the state Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages, Mr. Fumo said he will try to tack an amendment of his own onto the bill.

His amendment would "outlaw the dissolution of most marriages in Pennsylvania," he said in a news release. That would mean there would be few legal ways for the divorce of a married couple, a man and a woman.

Mr. Fumo, who leaves the Senate on Nov. 30, said the stated goal of Senate Bill 1250 is to "protect the sanctity of the marital institution" by defining a legal marriage as only between one man and one woman.

The next logical step, according to Mr. Fumo, is to also outlaw divorces, except for five specific reasons: if one spouse "willfully or maliciously" deserts the other; if one spouse uses "cruel and barbarous treatment" on the other; if a person endangers his or her spouse's health or life; if one spouse is found to be a bigamist; or if one spouse "imposes indignities to make the other spouses's [sic -- unless we're talking polygamy - ed.] life intolerable and burdensome."

Now THAT'S protecting marriage! Oh, it hasn't got a chance in Hell, and Fumo knows it. But it will be delicious to hear the arguments against it in a "Marriage Protection Act."

Hillary Wins Pa.

It's been a circus around here all day. Fascinating. If you want my utterly amateur take on why Obama couldn't hope to win Pennsylvania, I figured it out weeks ago. Only today did I look up the numbers to see if my suspicion was right:

Pennsylvania's female population has a median age of 40.1, and a mean age 40.4. The U.S. female population has a median age of 36.0, and a mean age of 36.7.

Older women I know have powerful memories of how it used to be in the days before there was some sort of sea change in attitudes -- and statutes and case law -- regarding gender equality in this country. You can argue that it wasn't as bad as the feminist scare screeds of the 1960s. You can argue that we've gone too far in some regards to enforce unnatural numerical parities in, say, college sports.

But you can't tell them it didn't used to be bad. And they remember. And they feel certain words and attitudes more powerfully than some of the rest of us do.

Including younger women, who might be more inclined to choose between Obama and Hillary without a strong reference to that past. It had occurred to me that roughly 35 to 40 was the watershed age for this.

Elitism

I think I understand what Obama was doing.

Obama has come under fire by opponents after he told an audience in San Francisco last week that economic problems led voters in some small towns to become "bitter" and "cling to guns or religion" as an outlet for their frustrations.

He wasn't telling things as he sees them. He was trying to explain central Pennsylvania to San Francisco. To do that, he had to put it in language they understand, and leave out anything that is not allowed by their worldview.

Which is most of the things that are regarded as virtues or truths in Pennsyltucky.

It was a noble attempt at building national unity and transcending our differences by making the cast of "The Deer Hunter" comprehensible to the moonbats of Haight-Ashbury.

It wasn't Lincolnian, however. It was all very ... dare I say it ... Clintonian. In the Bill Clinton sense. Obama in '08 actually reminds me a lot of Bill Clinton in 1992.

Now what I'd like to see Obama do is sit down in some roadhouse in Perry County, order a Yuengling (all you do is say "lager," and they pour you one), and explain San Franciscans in the terms the locals can understand.

That would be a marvel.

Wait, How About ...

Of course there's also "You've Got a Bitter Friend in Pennsylvania," but I'm too bitter to make it now.

Hints Obama is Conceding Pa.

Speaking as one in the Pennsylvania media, we're seeing signs that Obama's campaign here is either late and severely disorganized, or else he's not seriously contesting Hillary's lead in Pennsylvania and devoting resources elsewhere. Which means it looks like April 22 won't be the knockout and he's looking to North Carolina and Indiana.

Good Morning, America

Meet Pennsylvania, the new Florida. Also known as "Pennsyl-tucky," "Philadelphia at one end, Pittsburgh at the other, and Alabama in between." Sometimes along around next month, our Eagles fans and Amish will choose your next president.