Don't think that those big voter registration numbers being put up by the Delaware County Democrats are getting under the skin of their GOP counterparts?
Think again.
I know better. I have the lumps to show for it over the past month in the normal leadup to election day. It was almost always the same story, we were accused of tilting our coverage to the Dems, willing to do anything to knock the all-powerful county GOP off their lofty perch.
Here's something I never thought I'd say. I think they're worried. And maybe just a little scared.
They see where the county's demographic is going. It's shifting Democratic. And it's not going back.
Need proof? Look what happened in Upper Darby, where Democrats rolled to big wins in races for both the township council and school board.
Don't believe it? Ask Mario Civera. He represented the 164th state Legislative district for three decades, but he saw the shifting voter base in the district and decided to get out. He gave up his state rep's gig and won a seat on county council. He won re-election on Tuesday. But his old seat in the state House went to the Dems, with Margo Davidson heading to Harrisburg.
But I can give you a better example in making the case for just how scared the GOP is.
Meet Michael F.X. Gillin.
He's the leader of the Republican Party out in Newtown Township and a former county register of wills.
Gillin decided to rally the troops with a letter sent to Newtown residents, on the stationery of the Newtown Township Republican Executive Committee.
Gillin stressed how important Tuesday's election was in fending off the Democratic advance in the county. He noted how they are attempting to take over Delaware County government. Yeah? No kidding. That's the whole idea.
But Gillin wasn't done. He made a point of saying the Delco Dems are in bed with the Philadelphia Democratic Party. I'm sure Bob Brady would be aghast to learn this.
But Gillin decided to add a few more bombs in his entreaty to the local faithful.
First he warned residents that if the Democrats were successful, "rest assure your County Taxes will be going up." Pretty much what Dave White and Mario Civera, the GOP's incumbent County Councilmen, were saying out on the stump every night for the past two months.
Then Gillin decided to get a little more geographic in his election analysis. He pointed out the GOP was banking on Newtown voters "to counter some of the Democratic vote in the Eastern and Southern part of the County."
Then he decided to add an exclamation point.
"We cannot allow this cancer to enter the Courthouse," Gillin wrote. "Unlike Democratic controlled areas such as Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit and other major cities Delaware County and Newtown Township run on a balanced budget. Let's keep it that way."
Ouch! Gee, Mike, why don't you tell us how you really feel.
And that's just it. Some people believe that's exactly what he was doing.
At least one official, Tony Campisi, chairman of the Marple Newtown Democratic Committee, is taking offense, and suggesting there might be a racial element to Gillin's letter. Campisis tweeted me and said I should check it out.
I did. I'm not buying.
I don't think Gillin is that dumb. Of course, I could be wrong. The local GOP seem to think I'm wrong a lot these days. Funny, they didn't protest my prediction that they would win all the county-wide races. But they might not be happy with this one: Those days are numbered. I give it one, maybe two more election cycles before the Dems break into the fortress of the county courthouse.
Is the cancer reference over the edge? Maybe. At the least, it's not the best choice of words.
Gillin is denying any racial element to his words.
What I think Gillin and the rest of the Delco GOP are showing is that they're scared. There was a time when county Democrats couldn't even field candidates for all the county races. Those days are likely over.
I don't see those registration numbers swinging back the other way any time soon, and they're never going back to the glory days of the Delco GOP, when their 3-1 voter registration edge gave them carte blanche to run the county with an iron first.
Is the wave of Democrats entering Delaware County a cancer? Probably not.
But it's certainly raising the blood pressure of the GOP.
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