Clinton-Obama not the only race on April 22

While everyone is looking at the Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama race on April 22, there will be hundreds of other names on the ballot on Primary Election Day in Pennsylvania.

While the lesser-known candidates are being overshadowed by the epic struggle between Clinton and Obama to win the Democratic nomination for president, it's the other names on the ballot who will have a bigger impact on the everyday lives of voters.

The Associated Press released a story over the weekend reminding voters that "Legislative races could redraw lines of power" because all 203 seats in the state House of Representatives and half of the 50-member state Senate will be elected in 2008.

While not all of the Legislative races will be decided in April (many incumbents are running unopposed until the fall), it's important for voters to look at the entire ballot, not just the top of the ticket.

Nine sitting Republican lawmakers and 17 Democrats have primary challenges this year, all in the House — far fewer than two years ago — while none of the 25 senators whose terms expire this year face intraparty opposition, the AP reports.

The Mercury reminds voters in an editorial today that they can help continue the revolution against the Harrisburg status quo, pointing out that 55 new lawmakers were sent to the state Capitol in 2006.

Voters responded by unseating 24 incumbents, and the atmosphere became so poisonous that 31 others retired voluntarily.

The pay raise fervor has cooled, but now incumbents have to worry how voters will react to a new crop of controversies that include the law to add tolls on Interstate 80, the arrest of a politically connected owner of a Poconos casino on charges he lied about contacts with underworld figures, and last summer’s budget stalemate that briefly shut down large parts of state government.