Please note that this interview was held after the Democratic and Republican conventions, but prior to the economic meltdown. The events of recent weeks may have changed John’s opinion on the outcomes of some of November’s races. For John’s latest thinking on this and other issues, check The Pennsylvania Progressive website.

CS2: John, I can’t think of a better person to interview about the election with all your experience in blogging and especially about what’s going on here in Berks County. Before we get to Berks, I’d like to get your impression on the presidential race as you were so involved in the primary race as a Hillary Clinton supporter. It was a very rough and tumble primary. Probably the worst acrimony in the whole country. Has it healed between the Obama and Clinton camps?

John: Yes and no. With some people it has, with others not. I don’t think we’re going to really know whether the Democratic convention achieved its primary goal of unity for a while yet. That was the one and only thing on the agenda for the convention—unite the party. Some of the Hillary supporters I know are supporting Obama, some are still waiting.

CS2: What about yourself? Where have you gone?

John: I’m going Green this year. I like Cynthia McKinney, an African-American woman, a former Democratic congresswoman from Georgia. She’s right on all the issues. I feel more comfortable with her than with Obama. I still have serious questions about Obama.

CS2: All right. Let’s explore that for just a second. Is this a vote of voting your conscience? Or is this a vote where you’re saying there’s not much difference between Obama and McCain and so you’re free to vote your conscience?

John: Oh, there are major differences between Obama and McCain. Stark differences. Not that many differences between Obama and McKinney. But I see Obama pandering to voters. Especially in telling them how he’s going to go to Washington and change Washington. No one person is ever going to go to Washington and change Washington. As long as there is money in politics, lobbyists run Washington. No one’s going to change Washington. I see that as major-league pandering. Frankly that bothers me.

CS2: Is this issue the biggest problem that you have with Obama?

John: No, I question some of his advisors. I was at Kutztown University during the primaries with his foreign policy team. Afterward, one of his senior foreign policy advisors told me that Naomi Klein is a whack job. That really bothered me.

CS2: We’re talking about the writer from The Nation magazine (the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, which talks about forcing privatization on America and the rest of the world)?

John: Yes. For one of his top advisors to search me out and tell me that he thinks she’s a whack job is something I have a major problem with.

CS2: Now if Hillary had won the nomination, would you still be going with Cynthia?

John: Well, I had a lot of problems with Hillary too. I basically voted for Hillary for two reasons. One was that once I decided not to vote for Obama she was the only one left on the ballot. The second is I saw a possibility of Democrats controlling the White House for 16 years. If we had Hillary as president and Obama as vice president for 8 years and then Obama as president for 8 years, Democrats could have been in control of the White House for 16 years. I saw that as a very real possibility.

CS2: It was my observation of Hillary Clinton, that after she shed all the strategies of trying to win the White House and finally became herself as a populist, she really appealed to me at the end of the primary run. She won 11 of the last 14 primaries. Do you think if Hillary had approached it like that from the beginning she would have won the entire thing?

John: When she let her hair down, so to speak, and let people see Hillary as Hillary the voters really connected with her and she connected with the voters. You could see this at her events too. I was at five Hillary Clinton events. I came away very impressed with the woman after seeing her in person. She is a very impressive person. Whether as a presidential candidate, Senator, or woman, she is a very impressive person. She’s more than sufficiently qualified to be president of the country.

CS2: Did she hit a grand slam with her speech at the Democratic Convention?

John: Very much so. She did what she had to do. She tried to bring her voters, her supporters, to Barack Obama. The speech was a very definite home run in that regard. Whether all of them will follow her still remains to be seen.

CS2: And how did you feel about Barack’s speech at the convention?

John: Phenomenal! It was a very ambitious speech in what it had to accomplish. He accomplished everything he needed to accomplish in that speech and more.

CS2: The next day John McCain followed that speech by making a very unusual pick for vice president. What is your take on this pick?

John: I think it was a desperation panic move. I think he saw that Barack Obama had hit a grand slam on Thursday night before 80,000 screaming supporters and decided he needed to throw a Hail Mary pass. Barack Obama hit a home run on Thursday night and John McCain struck out on Friday.

CS2: Let’s move on to an area of expertise that you have that I don’t. I’d like you to give us your insights to some of these elections that affect Berks County and the nation. Let’s start with the Bob Roggio-Jim Gerlach election. My first question on that election is: Why is Republican Jim Gerlach so hard to beat?

John: He’s good looking, young, attractive, articulate. He connects with a lot of the voters in that district. He campaigns very hard. He does good constituent service. He goes to many events. So he’s everywhere in that district. He’s active and keeps himself out there. He’s constantly reminding the voters in that district of what he says he’s doing for them.

CS2: Is there any hope for Democrats, Independents and moderate Republicans who do not want a supporter of this war and do not want someone who has voted with George W. Bush? That it might be different this time with Bob Roggio as opposed to the two attempts by Lois Murphy? Is there any reason for optimism here?

John: I think so. Bob Roggio has studied what Lois Murphy did wrong. He’s intent on not making the same mistakes that Lois Murphy did. One of the mistakes Lois Murphy made was to bring all these outsiders in who don’t know the district. Bob Roggio is hiring local people who know the local area and local voters. They can relate to the voters on a personal level. This is a major step forward from what Lois Murphy did. He’s not afraid to take stands on the issues. On the major issues like the Iraq War, health care and the economy. Lois refused to take definitive positions on the war and on health care. She lost a lot of support because of that. Bob Roggio is willing to take definitive, courageous stands against the war and for universal health care.

CS2: I have this theory that Jim Gerlach sometimes plays with his vote. Am I alone in that theory?

John: Very much so (plays with his vote—not that you’re alone with that theory). When the Republicans were in control of Congress, anytime he felt it was safe, in other words when the measure didn’t depend on his vote, he would vote in a way that would help him look better to the voters in his district for re-election.

CS2: Is there an issue in this election between Roggio and Gerlach that could be decisive? What should Bob press on?

John: I think the Iraq War. Over 70% of this country wants an end to the Iraq War. Jim Gerlach has supported President Bush on the war right down the line. I thought he was vulnerable on this issue two years ago but Murphy refused to take a stand on the issue. This year there’s a very clear choice between these two candidates when it comes to the war.

CS2: Okay. Let’s move on to another election. Surprisingly, Republican Charlie Dent, who seemed invincible and has only received token candidates in opposition in the past, seems to be in for the fight of his life right now. Am I right in that assessment?

John: Very much so. Sam Bennet is giving him a real run for his money.

CS2: What’s Sam doing that others haven’t in the past?

John: Well , number one, she’s raised money. Number two, she’s brought in some very good campaign staffers who have experience and know what they’re doing. Two years ago Rob Hoffman ran Charlie Derlinger’s campaign. Rob did a miraculous job with that campaign because they had no money. I think they raised something like $70,000-$90,000 total for that entire campaign. Derlinger still got 47% of the vote. Which was phenomenal for a no-money campaign. This time Sam Bennet has money. She’s speaking out on the issues and going after Dent aggressively. She has far more staff then Dent had two years ago.

CS2: Is it wrong or sexist of me to say that she’s an appealing candidate?

John: She’s a very attractive candidate in many ways. She’s an attractive candidate on the issues. She’s taken definitive stands on the issues. She’s an attractive candidate in that she can raise sufficient money to run a competitive race. And she’s a very attractive woman.

CS2: That gives me hope. I thought we’d never see the end of Charlie Dent.

John: Well, Charlie’s always run as a moderate Republican and it’s a moderate centrist type of district. That’s worked for him. But if you look at his voting record it is not a moderate voting record. He votes against the working people of the Lehigh Valley every opportunity that he has.

CS2: I think it’s safe to assume that this should be a pretty good Democratic year. Is that correct?

John: Yes. We have the potential to win both of those Congressional districts if Barack Obama has coattails.

CS2: Let’s move on to another one. Maybe this is a little bit of a long shot. If not you can correct me. Democrat Bill Mackey’s running for state representative against the minority whip, Republican Dave Argall. Dave’s been there for ten or eleven terms. He still looks like a little boy. He’s got the Dick Clark thing going. Bill Mackey has a lot of integrity and is willing to stick his neck out and take a stand on single-payer. Does Bill have a chance here?

John: It’s a very tough district for a Democrat to win. Schuykill County reaching down into Berks County. It’s predominately a very conservative area. Dave Argall is pretty well entrenched there. He’s very active in the district. Bill has to work very hard. Bill needs to go out and knock on doors. Very aggressively. He needs to spend every waking minute of every day knocking on doors and talking to the voters. If Bill does that and assures that the voters get to know who he is and let them see his integrity, I think he can win some of these voters.

CS2: Is Bill getting the image out there of his 44 years on the job as a pipe fitter as opposed to a career politician who’s never worked a job other than being a career politician?

John: This is the message that Bill Mackey needs to get out because that’s what Dave Argall is. Bill needs to convince these people that a retired pipe fitter can better represent them in Harrisburg. Which he can because he stands for integrity.

CS2: Let me ask you about a long-shot candidate, Dennis Baylor, who is involved in a three-way race with Republican Jim Rhoades. What is the dynamics of that race? Who is Dennis Baylor hurting the most-the Republican or the Democrat?

John: Frankly, I don’t know that Dennis is really going to have that much of an impact. Independent candidates traditionally don’t have an impact. Rhoades is entrenched in that district. I don’t see him being in danger really.

CS2: Is that bad news?

John: It’s bad news for Dennis.

CS2: For progressives?

John: Oh, for progressives, yes. Senator Rhoades is in the Republican majority in the state Senate which is obstructing a lot of progressive legislation like the single-payer health care bill.

CS2: What should the voters be looking at as significant races, and what should the voters be looking at in terms of issues? What’s interesting to you?

John: The state House and Senate races are very important. They’re very important on several levels. Number one is redistricting as we head towards 2010. The next census will redistrict Congressional districts. Whichever party controls Harrisburg will draw those boundaries. So it’s very important which party holds majorities in state House and Senate. The real reform isn’t being done in Harrisburg. There’s been no real reform on campaign finance. In a Pennsylvania state race, anyone can still give unlimited amounts of money to a candidate. We have to end that massive influence of lobbyists and special interest money in Harrisburg. Another issue is this legislative slush fund. The $318,000,000 appropriated in the state budget to fund the state legislature is controlled by the leaders of the party. They use it ruthlessly to keep state representatives in line. This quashes reform, it quashes dissent, and it led to Bonusgate. They have all these millions of dollars available to them with no auditing, no accountability, that they felt they could use any way they wanted. They used the money for partisan political purposes on the taxpayer’s dime. As long as we allow them that money, we’re going to have corruption.

CS2: Talk to me for a minute about Bonusgate and its effect on this election at the state level. Are the Democrats handling Bonusgate right? Should they be dumping DeWeese?

John: Yes. Bill DeWeese is going to be an anchor around the neck of Democratic State House candidates. Any Democratic incumbent is going to be painted with Bonusgate by the Republicans. I saw the direct mail pieces coming out this fall. This all came out of Bill DeWeese and Mike Veon’s offices. The buck has to stop somewhere. It has to stop with Bill DeWeese. Until Bill DeWeese steps down or resigns his seat, it’s going to be bad. His seat could be in jeopardy. That would be one more seat Deomcrats lose.

CS2: Do you think Democratic activists should be calling on their state rep candidates to call for Bill DeWeese’s resignation?

John: Very much so. Unless they put pressure on their state representative candidates, they will not take a stand on this. I believe only nine of them have come out for DeWeese’s resignation. This is out of roughly 100 state representatives. They’re afraid to cross this man because he controls all the money for their offices and staffs. Bill DeWeese can strip them of all their staffs, all their district offices. That’s why we have to change that.

CS2: I realize you don’t have a crystal ball, so I won’t hold you to this. After November 4th, what do you think the composition of the state House and state Senate will be in terms of Republicans and Democrats?

John: That they will both be controlled by Republicans. Bonusgate is going to cost us the state house, because of Bill DeWeese.

CS2: Wow. Is there any way the Democrats could have responded that would have saved that?

John: Yes. If they insisted that DeWeese step down and make him accountable for Bonusgate, the candidates could go out and say, “Look, we did the right thing.”

CS2: Let me close this by asking you a couple of questions about the national race. What do you think is going to happen? Is McCain going to win?

John: No. I don’t believe the polls. The polls have been wrong all year. I find it very difficult to believe that after the last eight years that Americans are going to continue to vote for the same policies.

CS2: And if you had your druthers, if Obama wins, should Hillary be majority whip and should Bill be given the Middle-East problem?

John: I think Hillary should be Secretary of State. I think she would be an excellent Secretary of State.

CS2: Okay, and what should he do with Bill? (laughter)

John: Bill’s doing some good work. Let him continue to do that good work.

CS2: John, just one last question. I’m sure many of our readers will be enlightened by this short interview. Where can they get more of the same from you?

John: The PennsylvaniaProgressive.com.

CS2: Thank you, John.

John: Thank you.