Scranton made the big time this year. Sort-of native daughter Hillary Clinton was shaking glass from her hair as she hammered away at that ceiling.
Native son Joe Biden was tapped to be the Democratic veep pick.
Native son Bob Casey Jr. made lots of new friends at the Democratic convention by making nice on the abortion issue.
But perhaps the most important appearance Scranton will make in this election is in the person of a man named Joseph Martino.
You've heard of Joe the Plumber - well, this is Joe the Bishop.
Joseph Martino is head of
Scranton's Catholic diocese, which may hold the key to at least one battleground state. Catholics are a good bellwether for national trends. And Bishop Martino is trying to make sure his flock trends in the right direction.
He recently issued a letter warning that "being 'right' on taxes, education, health care, immigration and the economy fails to make up for the error of disregarding the value of human life."
This is a swipe at prominent cafeteria Catholics and noted theologians like Nancy Pelosi who've tried to argue that Catholics shouldn't be one-issue voters. Knowing that many Catholics tend to be squeamish about the party's stand on abortion, Democrats have tried to appeal to this important demographic by playing bait-and-switch - if they can divert our attention from their support for the abortion lobby, we'll be able to pull the lever for Obama. . . .
To read the rest of Christine Flowres' wonderful column from the Philadelphia Daily News and Real Clear Politics, click here.
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