In two and a half months the voters of Pennsylvania will decide who will be the Democratic and Republican nominees for Governor of their state. According to a new poll, State Attorney General Tom Corbett has a 43% to 5% lead over State Representative Sam Rohrer for the Republican nomination. On the other side, 'Don't know' leads the field for the Democratic nomination at 59%.

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Candidate Don't Know (D) handily beat challengers Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato (16%), State Auditor General Jack Wagner (11%), 2004 U.S. Senate nominee Joel Hoeffel (10%) and State. Senator Tony Williams (2%). (source)

Why the lack of enthusiasm for any actual candidate on the part of state Democrats? Could be the low profile of their choices. According to Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, "The Democratic candidates for Governor are almost invisible men as far as the voters are concerned. One of them will win the nomination, but at this point they are so closely bunched together and such mystery men to the vast majority of primary voters that any result is possible, given that the primary is little more than 10 weeks away."

Another reason could be the low approval of current Governor Ed Rendell (D) and his 2010-11 fiscal year budget proposal. While the state is facing a $525 million shortfall, his plan calls for $1.2 billion in new spending and several significant tax increases. (source) Mr. Rendell is finishing his third and, by statute, final term as governor and he is going out in the same unpopular tax and spend style that President Obama and his cronies are advocating at the federal level.

Another decision being made by Pennsylvania voters on May 18 will be who fills the seat previously held by the late Representative John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) for the remainder of his term. That special election will be held on primary day and some say that race will be a clear indicator of the political climate facing the two parties in November's mid-term elections and in 2012. "It is a national race because the voters in this district that used to be called Reagan Democrats - nowadays they're called independents or conservative Democrats - these are the voters that make up the difference in a national election," said Joseph DiSarro, chair of the political science department at the Washington and Jefferson College. "This is a district that will set the direction of the parties in the future." (source)

A battleground state for the past several election cycles that eventually went for Democrats, Pennsylvania could fall solidly into Republican hands this year. Especially if Don't Know (D) is the best the Democrats have to offer.