The only such action scheduled in 2005 is state Supreme Court Justices Sandra Schultz Newman and Russell Nigro running for "retention." That is, voters may cast up-or-down votes on whether they should be retained for additional 10-year terms but will not have the option of replacing them.

There are no openings on any of the three statewide appellate courts. There will be school board, municipal and county elections scattered across the state. But only a handful of those races - including mayoral elections in Pittsburgh, Erie and Allentown and Lynne Abraham's bid for a fourth term as district attorney in Philadelphia - are of real interest to political junkies.

Of course, it would be folly to write off 2005 as nonpolitical.

For one thing, the busy election year of 2006 is "12 short months" away, as Dan Hayward, executive director of the Republican State Committee put it.

Speculation about which Democrats would be willing to challenge U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, and which Republicans would stand up to take on Gov. Rendell, began heating up in 2004 and is certain to intensify this year in the absence of more immediate political news.

Democratic former U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel, whose first Senate bid ended in November's loss to Sen. Arlen Specter, said he is keeping his options open for a prospective campaign against the conservative Santorum, the Senate's third-ranking Republican.

Also in that category is State Treasurer Barbara Hafer, a Republican-turned-Democrat who is winding up 16 years in statewide office. State Rep. T.J. Rooney, the state Democratic Party chairman from Allentown, said he is "kicking the tires" of a potential campaign against the first-term senator.

And Robert P. Casey Jr., the Democratic state auditor general and treasurer-elect, is "in the process of listening to people" in the party's leadership who are urging him to take on Santorum but has made no decision, according to his spokeswoman...

From a logistical standpoint, this year gives both parties more time to dissect the ups and downs of the 2004 election and build up their grassroots organizations.

Democrats and Republicans each saw six-digit gains in membership during last year's hotly contested presidential campaign. Now the challenge is to turn those new members into activists...

Philly.com  Jan 10, 2005

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