Back to School with David Landau

At 9:45 a.m. I go to vote at my new polling place, Strath Haven High School. This is the place I now send nearly 10 grand a year in taxes. Not that I'm complaining. It's for the kids, you know. My kid, for one. But she's a senior. When she's done this June, that's when I start complaining.

School's out, but the parking lot is chock full of cars. However, from a distance I see only one poll worker talking to a lady. As I get closer I realized it's, it's - wait for it - it's David Landau, leader of the county Democratic party.

He's being bore-assed by some woman complaining about an absentee ballot, but he smiles at me and I smile back. The lady leaves and his phone rings. He looks at the caller ID.

"It's my candidate," he says.

He tells Bryan Lentz "turnout is great, really good, all over Nether Providence. It's not 08, but its 06 or a little higher."

He tells Lentz I'm there. He listens for a moment, and then to me: "Bryan wants to know if you're working the polls for Meehan."

I accept the shot and minutes later regret not replying, "Schneller."

When Landau hangs up I ask him where his candidate is.

"I forgot to ask," he replies. Turnout though is good. It could hit 60 or 70 percent. In 08, Landau says, "it hit 90."

Everybody's saying this will be a turnout election. I suggest that if his Democrats can hold the 7th congressional seat this year, the GOP may never win it again. Landau, of course, readily agrees.

He says one of the things the Delco Dems have going for them is that, "Delaware County does not have the angry factor," that is, voters furious with Washington D.C. and the Democrats there. "In Bucks County they're really angry. Here, people are unhappy but they don't have that 'I'm coming in to throw everybody out' mentality."

He claims that the local Republicans had "nothing" like the get out the vote operation "we had." As for their overall operation, "They (the Republicans) don't have the organization they once had."

Of course, I ask him about Schnellergate, the Lentz campaign's work to get third party candidate Jim Schneller on the ballot to siphon votes away from Meehan.

"What did you know about that?"

"Nothing," he replies innocently. "They kept me away from it because they know what I would say." As party leader he couldn't countenance party members working for a third party candidate. "I understand it," he says. "It could have made some sense." But, he reiterates, "I was not in on the strategic-making process"

"Was Bryan?"

"I don't think so," Landau replies, and quickly changes the subject.

"We've never had the kind of get out the vote effort in Delaware County in the 25 years I've been involved. And frankly we need it because its a bad year for Democrats."

Win or lose, Landau expresses pride in himself and his fellow Democrats.

"If you do everything you can do to win an election and the voters vote against you," the chairman says, "so be it."