Posted on November 8, 2006
Now playing: The best
political ad you didn't see
Staff writers Gar Joseph , Ronnie Polaneczky, Catherine Lucey and Ed Barkowitz contributed to this report.
THE LAST thing you want to see on the day after election is another political ad. Which is too bad, because the best ad never appeared on TV.
We saw it on YouTube.com and it features a couple of blue-collar Philly guys, Joe and Jim.
Here's the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=70oYnw3Nh9U
The AFL-CIO made 12 spots with Joe and Jim, billing them as "Two Guys" (as in "Two Guys on What Bush Has Done for Working Americans. ")
Several of the ads feature Joe and Jim sitting in a diner talking about issues.
They had such an unscripted, reality-TV feel (rare for a political ad) that we tracked down the "Two Guys. "
Turns out the spots sounded unscripted because they were. The guys are Joe Coccio, 45, and Jim McBride, 59, subway mechanics, and both officers in Transport Workers Union Local 234.
Their videotape careers began after the national AFL-CIO sent a film crew here with a union voter-outreach effort.
Coccio and McBride had that certain something that caught the eye of the filmmaker.
"I get this call and it's some guy from California telling me he wants to do this," McBride said.
"I hung up on him. I figured it was a prank. Then somebody else called and I hung up on him. Finally, the international called and said, 'You gotta get with the program. ' "
Coccio said, "We were just shooting from the hip. It was all spontaneous and not scripted. Just talking about things, pretty much what we do every day at the union hall. "
Local 234 President Jeffrey Brooks wants the local to be more active in politics, and encouraged Coccio and McBride to do the ads. The ad we linked to is "Two Guys & Bush Visit Gerlach Campaign HQ," in which our heroes take a life-sized cardboard cutout of President Bush to U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach's campaign HQ in Pottstown, camera crew in tow.
A suburban Gerlach staffer, eyeing the Philly guys in their union jackets, says, "Do you guys live here? You guys look pretty not local. If you're not here to help, you're not welcome. "
"How can you tell who's local and who ain't local? " Coccio asks.
"I can tell who's local and who ain't," the staffer says.
"You can?" says Coccio, "We look like regular Americans. "
Well, regular Philadelphians, anyway. Walking out the door, Coccio said,
"C'mon, George, we're not welcome here. "
Would Bill do it for Hill?
Congressional candidate Lois Murphy's husband, Benjamin Eisner, grabbed her rival's sign away to keep it out of a TV shot as his wife went to vote in Lower Merion yesterday morning.
Witnesses said Eisner grabbed the sign, for U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, which was held by 75-year-old John Dugery. As Eisner pulled it away, Dugery held on tight and was pulled along with it.
This is what passes for campaign violence in the suburbs.
King of the Hill
Regina Forrence, from Chestnut Hill, reports: "The only interesting thing around here is a collection of mock election posters asking us to vote for Richard Snowden as 'King of the Hill. '"
Snowden, a guy who owns most of the quaint neighborhood's commercial real estate, often feuds with the community association.
"The signs . . . asked us to 'Vote YES for King of the Hill because I am . . .
__ A Genius
__ A Coward (Bully)
__ Just Rich
__ Other. ' "
The power of prayer
"Answered prayers cause more tears than those that remain unanswered."
- St. Teresa of Avila
The Wall Street Journal Web page on Friday reported that U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and his wife, Karen, were praying for his opponent, Bob Casey.
"We pray for the Caseys every night," Santorum said. "We know it's as hard for them as it is for us. "
Swann: Spread too wide?
How did we know Republican challenger Lynn Swann couldn't win after polls showed him trailing Gov. Rendell by 25 points?
Because during Swann's NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, his team never overcame a deficit of more than 21 points.
Political missteps
Myles Aion is a 19-year-old sophomore at Temple University who loves, or loved, politics.
Aion spent a year as a top intern at Bob Casey Jr.'s U.S. Senate campaign. His career took a tumble in August, when the acerbic national blogger Wonkette posted a screen capture of Aion's Facebook profile.
A photo on the profile, Wonkette said, showed Aion "looking messy and disoriented and holding a tallboy beer can, with a fair-sized bong prominently placed in the foreground. "
Aion had joined another campaign by then (which he declined to name), but the heat, which increased when Clout picked up the item, forced him to resign.
Aion wouldn't talk with us then, which is unfortunate since the messy fellow in the photo wasn't him. Although it does look like him, he admits. And the "tall boy" was an Arizona iced tea.
The Casey campaign, understandably, distanced itself from him, underplaying his role there.
"I had a bit of bitterness toward politics" about that, Aion said.
He blames a Republican student for leaking the Facebook photos.
Aion shouldn't feel bad. Even college presidents get embarrassed by photos posted on the Internet.
We thought Aion, having suffered himself, might've excused John Kerry and his botched joke, but he noted that it's one thing for a college kid to make a misstep. Quite another for a seasoned pol.
"He lives 24/7 under infinite public scrutiny and he paid the price for it," Aion said. "I was a 19-year-old kid and he's a U.S. senator, so my level of sympathy for him was lackluster. "
As Aion learned, earlier than most, politics ain't beanbag. *
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