Inside Camp Onorato

Chris Brennan at the Daily News looks at Dan Onorato's aborted challenge of fellow Dem Joe Hoeffel's nominating petitions (h/t Pa2010):

Allegheny Executive Dan Onorato has decided that having two opponents from southeastern Pennsylvania in the Democratic primary election for governor is better than knocking one of them with a healthy campaign account off the ballot.

A March 15 memo sent by Onorato campaign manager Kevin Kinross says staffers would be ready the following day in Harrisburg and Philadelphia to challenge the nominating petitions of Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel and state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams.

Kinross predicted a 40 percent chance for booting Hoeffel from the May 18 ballot and 95 percent for Williams.

The memo to attorneys for the campaign, advisers Neil Oxman and Dan Fee, pollster David Petts and five staffers, suggested an automatic legal challenge to Hoeffel if he challenged Williams. The memo, obtained by the Daily News, said the challenge against Hoeffel could be dropped if he made no move against Williams.

That's exactly what happened, but not before Hoeffel had a good time accusing Onorato of a "cynical and lame effort to play around with the democratic process."