Pa is on of the states where Republicans could make major chances in their favor via redistricting, if they take the governor's mansion (and/or the House), says this story in the Hill:

Former Rep. Martin Frost (D-Texas) headed his party’s redistricting efforts during the 2000 redraw. His seat later fell victim to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s (R-Texas) mid-decade redistricting plan. This time around, Frost said, the three states that should worry Democrats the most are Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas.

There are many states that will have ballots chock-filled with exciting and competitive races, but if you are looking for a place where a big GOP political wave might show up early in the evening of Nov. 2 — or for evidence that it won’t be as big as some Republicans hope — you could do worse than focusing on Pennsylvania.

Voters in the commonwealth will be choosing a new governor and a new Senator in the fall, but in addition, 10 of the state’s 19 Congressional districts have races worth watching.

Jim Schneller is the type of guy that liberals love to hate.

Pro-life conservative. Strict constitutional constructionist. Rails against the "bloated" federal government. Doubts whether President Obama was born in the United States.

But in the Philadelphia suburbs, Schneller might be the Democrats' best friend. At least for the next three months.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a prominent moderate Republican, raised campaign cash Monday for Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee Pat Toomey, a conservative who as recently as last year was trying to defeat people such as Collins.

The endorsement could provide ammunition for Toomey against his Democratic opponent, Rep. Joe Sestak, as they battle to seize the middle ground and define each other as an extremist.

Attorney General Tom Corbett has taken significant criticism for his pledge to not raise taxes if elected governor. That was to be expected from his Democrat rival, Allegheny County executive Dan Onorato, who hasn't ruled out raising taxes to fill a budget gap expected to be as high as $5 billion next year. But it's the friendly fire from Senate Republican Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi that has wounded the AG (aspiring governor).

A drive on just about any major road in Berks County shows that some of the $787 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money is flowing here.

The federal government claims Berks has received $245.8 million in stimulus funds.

But, using a variety of local, state and federal sources, the Reading Eagle was able to identify only $136.9 million in spending.

And while some of the projects funded by stimulus funds are very much in evidence, the jobs that were supposed to come along with the money are not.

Nevada's got far more slot machines and table games, New Jersey has more casino workers and even Iowa has nearly twice as many casinos, but there's one place where Pennsylvania gambling industry is king: taxes.

Pennsylvania collected more taxes from its casinos than any other state, passing Nevada for the first time, fiscal 2009 revenues show.

Perhaps most impressive is that the nearly $1.1 billion collected last year by Pennsylvania came from just nine casinos, while Nevada collected nearly a quarter-billion less from its 260 gambling halls.

HARRISBURG - Having already hired three former aides to Gov. Rendell, companies wanting to tap Pennsylvania's vast natural-gas reserves have set their sights on one of the state's best-known political figures: Tom Ridge.

The companies are looking to the former governor to help fix their tattered public image even as they try to influence lawmakers in Harrisburg on key public policy.

This month’s PoliticsPA Congressional vulnerability rankings have a new Number 1 – Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski – but beyond him, the ordering has remained stable.

When he was president of the free-market advocacy group Club for Growth, Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey was the most fearsome RINO hunter in the land. He sought the defeat of GOP incumbents deemed soft on the Club's drive for lower taxes and smaller government - often termed Republicans in Name Only by the right.