It hasn't been an easy primary season yet for Pennsylvania Republicans, who have spent the past month scrambling to readjust to the state Supreme Court's legislative district ruling.

But at the airport's Hyatt Regency Hotel this evening, a half-dozen candidates and party leaders rallied 100 or so of western Pennsylvania's party faithful for the primary battles that are less than two months away from balloting.

Ticking off a list of last year's victories -- including a state budget that spends less than the year before, tort and welfare reforms, and "pro-life" legislation regarding regulation of abortion facilities -- House Majority Leader Mike Turzai declared that Steeler Country will be "vital" to winning back the White House.

"Republicans are prepared to fiscally govern the state and the nation," said Turzai, during the inaugural Keystone Dinner's "whistlestop" speech portion.

Not all the talk was focused on unity -- it is, after all, primary season. Both incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy and his 18th District challenger, Evan Feinberg, addressed the crowd. Feinberg spoke of the "watching our liberties slowly slide away" and slammed the Occupy Wall Street movement as the wrong direction for the country, before turning his sights on Murphy.

"Congressman Murphy is not the solution for our country's problems," Feinberg said. "He's been part of the problem, not the solution."

Murphy, who arrived shortly after his challenger's remarks, said he has been fighting against Washington problems. He touted his experience as an important factor, referencing his recent efforts toward blocking the planned closing of the Air Force's nearby 911th Airlift Wing. 

"You know me, you know my family, you know the things I've done," Murphy said. "I'm here to do the best that I can for the region."

A Commonwealth Court judge may rule Monday whether U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, will stay on the primary ballot against fellow Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown.

 Commonwealth Court President Judge Dan Pellegrini heard hours of testimony today in the Critz campaign's challenge of Altmire's petition signatures, after which the Altmire camp was dangerously close to falling below the 1,000 signatures needed to make the April 24 ballot. The balance of the case stands with whether a 23-year-old Altmire campaign worker who collected about 200 of the signatures lives, as required, within the 12th District boundaries.

Altmire campaign worker Abby Silverman is registered to vote at her father's house in O'Hara Township, and her driver's license, credit card bills and other documents use the 12th District township as her address. Under testimony, she said he lives about five days per week at an apartment in Shadyside, in the 14th District, and pays for a lease there.

Critz campaign attorney Scott Caulfield went so far as to introduce Twitter posts Ms. Silverman made about Shadyside into evidence, and noted she paid cable television bills there and had moved new furniture into the apartment.

"Her true residence or domicile as called for by the [election] statute itself is in fact in Shadyside," he argued.

Ms. Silverman graduated from college in 2010 and lived full-time at home before signing an apartment lease in the city in early 2011.

Altmire attorney David Montgomery said nearly every legal document in the young woman's life tied her to the family home in O'Hara and she was thereby qualified to circulate petitions in the district. She has "one foot firmly planted in O'Hara Township from the beginning of 2010 all the way to the present," he told the judge.

State legislators combined Mr. Altmire's current 4th District seat with Mr. Critz's 12th District seat during congressional redistricting last year. It covers parts of Allegheny, Beaver, Cambria, Cambria, Lawrence, Somerset and Westmoreland counties.

The Altmire campaign gathered 1,651 nominating signatures for the congressional race, and before today's hearing agreed that more than 300 of them should be disallowed. The Critz campaign whittled more signatures away through the day, leaving the Altmire forces with about 1,150 legitimate ones. Should Judge Pellegrini rule Ms. Silverman was not a district resident, that would leave the McCandless Democrat without about 950 signatures, or 50 short of the number necessary to make the primary ballot.

The judge said he would "hopefully" attempt to rule by Monday.

Newt Gingrich's campaign has announced that Kiron Skinner, a Carnegie Mellon University professor, will be the national co-chair for its Women with Newt Coalition -- joining  his wife and two of his daughters in the group that is "spearheading women's outreach leading up to Super Tuesday and the general election," according to a Gingrich release.

Skinner is associate professor of social and decision sciences and director of CMU's Center for International Relations and Politics.

"I've been a supporter of Speaker Gingrich for a long time," she said, according to the release. "I've seen him in numerous professional circumstances and have been extremely impressed with his command of complex and overlapping issues that are especially pressing to women — national security, the economy, and education," said Skinner, who is also a Hoover Institute Research Fellow.

The other leaders of the coalition are Callista Gingrich, Sue Lynch, Jeri Thompson, Gay Hart Gaines, Linda Upmeyer, Kathy Gingrich Lubbers, and Jackie Gingrich Cushman.

 

Happy Friday. We'll be at the Commonwealth Court hearing on Mark Critz's challenge of fellow congressman Jason Altmire's nominating petitions this morning, but a couple quick headlines first:

State Sen. Jane Orie's corruption trial continued yesterday, with testimony from former chief of staff Jamie Pavlot:

But it was an email exchange between Ms. Pavlot and the senator that could prove to be one of the strongest pieces of evidence in the case accusing Ms. Orie of theft of services.

In the hours after an intern resigned her position with Mr. Orie, Ms. Pavlot, under direction from her boss, quickly scurried to create a separate campaign office.

The first email on the subject was sent by Ms. Orie at 1:43 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2009, just five hours after an intern quit because she was uncomfortable with campaign activity that was occurring in the legislative office.

In Ms. Orie's email, titled "Campaign Headquarters," sent from her personal account, she wrote, "We need to begin finding one ... set up desk etc. ... Josh needs to carry the laptop everyday once we get headquarters and set laptop up in campaign. ... have papers etc. there."