Employers in the Delaware Valley region received a brief word from Independence Blue Cross that they’d reached an agreement with the Crozer-Keystone system.

To our members who receive care through the Crozer-Keystone Health System

We are pleased to have agreed on terms for a new four-year contract with Crozer-Keystone Health System.

Our members may continue to receive care through Crozer-Keystone from the physicians they have come to know and trust. In addition, our members who have health plans that require a primary care physician will not need to change doctors. We would like to thank our customers, members, and the physicians serving patients at Crozer-Keystone for their patience and understanding during contract discussions.

We are committed to continuing to offer our members access to affordable, quality care through a broad network of hospitals, physicians and other health care services.

Christopher Butler
Chief Operating Officer
Independence Blue Cross

That a deal would be struck was a certainty. For each company, the possibility of losing the other’s customer base, even for a short while, was a form of mutually assured destruction.

No details of the deal have been made public. Consequently, the other shoe has yet to drop for the region’s employers and workers. If there’s a surprising rate hike at the next renewal period, we may well have an idea how these negotiations played out.

For those who missed the August 5th program, the NBC10 Live @ Issue program is available online. Both Congressman Joe Sestak and State Representative Bryan Lentz are interviewed.

Bryan Lentz also has posted video of the July 23rd hearing on HB1182 held by the PA House Transportation Committee in Ridley Township. HB1182 is the Lentz’s bill proposing to create a regional airport authority.

For red-meat Republicans, he still seems to be seen as a technical guru on electioneering. To Democrats, he’s a demon. Possibly because he rarely appeared in public interviews, or because he’s part of an intensely secretive administration, we have only vague impressions of what the truth might be about Karl Rove. All we know for sure is that he’s a damn poor rapper.

Yesterday’s postmortem in the Post-Gazette on the Rove era is typical of the shallow tripe we’ve been fed by much of the press for years. “Rove’s political acumen was evident in PA,” is the title of the piece. The premise is that Rove focused feverishly on Pennsylvania, and figured out how to turn out the Republican base in PA like nobody ever had before in the 2004 election.

Of course, Bush didn’t carry PA in 2000 or 2004. In 2006, a wave of anti-Bush sentiment allowed four Democratic congressional challengers and one senatorial challenger to defeat incumbent Republicans. Whatever Rove has been peddling, Pennsylvania wasn’t buying it.

Rove’s touted strategy of narrowly holding power via an energized base is at odds with his other claimed interest in creating a permanent Republican majority. A base-only focus seems to be a strategy without contingency, otherwise known as a poor strategy. It is not unlike winning a decisive military battle with a post-war strategy of “we’ll be greeted in the streets with flowers, and oil revenue will pay for everything.”

On this point I will agree with ex-Bush speech writer David Frum in his NY Times editorial:

Building coalitions is essential to political success. But it is not the same thing as political success. The point of politics is to elect governments, and political organizations are ultimately judged by the quality of government they deliver.

Now that we can see his final portfolio, Rove looks to be, at best, a skilled tactician. As a strategist, he seems to have failed almost completely. And if election results in Pennsylvania are any evidence, his tactical dominance is probably overrated too. If Rove’s GOtV operation couldn’t beat the squads of rag-tag MoveOn volunteers, how good could he have been?

Congressman Joe Sestak (PA-07) will hold a town hall meeting in his district this week. The topic will be Iraq. Sestak plans to give brief remarks and then take questions from the audience.

When: Thursday, August 16th, 6:30 pm
Where: The Science Center, Room 101, Swarthmore College [map]

The event is open to the public and the press.

Labor Day is approaching. In addition to the start of a new school year, Labor Day is also when local campaigns will start to heat up in anticipation of the November elections.

The Keystone Campaigns blog is a useful sourcebook for ideas if you’re a municipal or regional candidate running in your first election. As an example, see the recent post “Five Rules for Candidates.” I especially endorse the second section about making use of the local party. As an active committeeman and a former campaign manager for a local candidate, I know how essential the network of these local experts is for managing your ground game.

Candidates in our ward don’t need to circulate their own petitions. They don’t have to recruit poll staffing or figure out how to collect election night results. I can place a big stack of yard signs in local yards in one afternoon, or organize a letter stuffing party or lit drop. If you’re walking the ward, I can speed your door-to-door efforts by a considerable amount.

My transmission died while I was out on my lunch break. I was stuck on the side of the road with no cell phone, and (garrgh!) I’d even forgotten my wallet in the morning. It was staggeringly hot in the noon sun.

I was standing on the side of the road strategizing on my best move for getting help. Should I head back to a business in town? Or just face the heat and walk to the nearest garage to arrange a tow?

Who should magically drive up but my friend, Nether Providence Township Board President Lin Floyd (D-4th Ward), and her daughter. Rescue! Lin graciously offered to give me a lift to the garage and then home. She even had a sharpie in her hand so that I could leave a note to the police in the windshield.

Nobody ever mentioned that deus ex machina might be one of the perks of the liberal blogosphere.

The David Landau for County Council campaign is setting up its HQ in Clifton Heights, right in the heart of the County. The campaign staff have planned a grand opening celebration for August 12th. The Republican Party has held all the seats on County Council for over 30 years, but that streak will end in 2007. David will talk about the path to Democratic victory in November.

When: Sunday, August 12th, 3-6 PM.
Where: 400 N. Springfield Rd, Clifton Heights. [Google map]

Refreshments will be served.