This space spends a lot of time worrying over and updating the latest campaign commercials. The rest of you in the junkie class should probably bookmark the Washington Post's presidential commercial tracker immediately, if you haven't already.

The site tracks both cumulative and weekly (above) spending totals on the race by campaigns and SuperPACs and allows breakouts by market. Why was there $306K in Pittsburgh spending last week but only $15K in Philly? Cleveland had a whopping $861K in spending, second in the nation only to the $880K in Charlotte.

Pittsburgh is the most favored city to Pennsylvania voters -- according to the latest rollout from Public Policy Polling -- and hilariously Harrisburg is the only major city statewide to be disliked by people who live there. Democrats, Republicans and especially independents (65-15% approval) like Pittsburgh.

From PPP:

While Scranton is a popular city statewide, it is not voters' favorite. That would be Pittsburgh, which has a 57-17 favorability margin. Of eight cities we asked about, the only one of which voters have a net negative opinion is by far its most populous, Philadelphia. Only 37% see it favorably and 42% unfavorably. Between the western and eastern bookends are Bethlehem (42-10), Erie (41-11), Scranton, Allentown (34-22), Reading (31-26), and Harrisburg (38-34).

Philly is seen very well by the people in the area codes surrounding it, but worse in areas further west. Pitt is seen well by every area of the state, particularly the western parts nearest it. Harrisburg is the only city disliked by its own area code and liked by others.

Philly has by far the biggest difference along racial lines of any of the cities. White voters fall similarly to the overall numbers (34-43), but African Americans really like Philly (61-29).

Partially because of this racial gap, Philadelphia is also the most polarizing along partisan lines. Democrats like it, but not as much as Republicans dislike it, and not as much as Democrats like Pittsburgh. Democrats fall at 47-30 on Philly, while Republicans fall at 26-55 and independents at 38-40. For Pitt, voters of all stripes like it: Democrats (64-13), Republicans (48-26), and independents most of all (65-6). Probably because it is the capital, voters are also a little split on Harrisburg politically. Democrats (41-32) and independents (36-29) aren't that thrilled about it, but Republicans slightly dislike it (35-37).

Gov. Tom Corbett has announced he will nominate chief of staff Bill Ward to a vacancy on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

The governor's general counsel, Stephen Aichele, will take over as chief of staff on Tuesday.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported this morning that Ward would leave his job amid worries by top state Republicans that the governor has an image problem.

Ward, 60, is from Mt. Lebanon, and he said in a press release that the move would reunite him with his family.

“My current role in government has been both professionally challenging and personally rewarding,” Ward said. “A position serving on the bench in Allegheny County will allow me to be reunited with my family in Pittsburgh while continuing to serve the commonwealth.”

Ward is a former federal and state prosecutor. He served as the top deputy to Corbett in the attorney general's office in the 1990s.

He will serve as a special adviser to Corbett until his confirmation by the Senate.

Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner, with about 20 poster-bearing supporters from various local organizations in tow, squared off with state government to keep the county's services untouched at a press conference this morning.

The goal, as stated in a letter Wagner sent to Gov. Tom Corbett, is to fully or at least partially restore cuts included in his proposed 2012-13 budget. The outrage is mainly directed at Corbett's proposed 20 percent cut in human services, which she claims will have dire effects on residents' livelihood.

Wagner pointed out the "irony" of Corbett's cuts because he used to be a county resident. "He's pouring salt on the wounds of his own county's residents ... He should take care of his own first," she said.

Supporters at the conference included members from KidsVoice, an organization which helps abused and neglected children; SEIU Local 668, a social services union; and Kane Hospital, a senior care and rehabilitation facility.

Scott Hollander, executive director of KidsVoice, is afraid of the cuts' impact on children. The cuts, he said, will affect the entirety of their lives; from when they're abused as children and can't get the help they need to when they're adults and can't cope with the emotional and physical consequences, potentially ending up in jail or worse.

According to Hollander, without funding to increase staff for KidsVoice and other organizations like it, this could be the future for many neglected children because of Corbett's cuts.

Wagner shared such concern. "[Corbett] said what we're going to do is block grant mental illness, substance abuse, programs for the homeless," she said. "Those are three of the areas that I think studies show, when you take away services, those are the people who end up in our jails."

Supporters noted that even if the budget is approved as is, they will not stop protesting and will try to stretch what they have or find other resources to maintain services. In December, Allegheny County approved a 1-mill tax increase to ensure funding for human services programs.

Photo: Steve Mellon/PG. Keshauna Madden, 2, of McKees Rocks takes part on the KidsVoice "Kites for Kids" parade at Station Square in 2007.