Hopkins needs help to dump DeWeese

Eric Heyl has an interesting column in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about Greg Hopkins' uphill battle to oust House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese, who is seeking re-election to his 50th House District seat.

DeWeese is embroiled in the Bonusgate scandal, the biggest political corruption case in Pennsylvania history, but he still has tons of money to spend on his re-election (assuming he is not indicted before Election Day in the ongoing corruption probe.)

Hopkins came within 1,004 votes of defeating DeWeese in 2006 because of the pay-raise fiasco of 2005. DeWeese was one of the legislative leaders who pushed for the middle-of-the-night pay raise for lawmakers, the governor and state judges.

As we learned in the Bonusgate indictments, money tends to rule in politics. DeWeese enjoys a huge advantage over Hopkins.

"To do better this time, Hopkins will have to overcome DeWeese's considerable monetary edge," Heyl writes. "According to the most recent campaign finance reports, DeWeese has $202,000 in his coffers. Hopkins? A little less than that -- $2,125."

Read the full column, "DeWeese opponent just might bench him," at the newspaper's Web site.

To learn more about Greg Hopkins, visit his campaign Web site, http://www.votegreghopkins.com/