PA Political Astrology: Lancaster County Democratic Committee Goes Joe!

[tweetmeme]Well, well, well … after attending demfest via twitter hashtag, then tweeting up afterwards with one of Cocalico’s finest, I was finally able to attend Saturday’s Lancaster County Democratic Committee endorsement convention. Woot-woot! Click here for the twitter hashtag roundup: http://twubs.com/lcdc.

I got a ride with Sue (@susan1030) and a few of the Cocalico Democrats. We arrived at the Lancaster Host Resort and I checked-in on foursquare at 8:07am. (See chart cast for this time below.) It was then that I met Lancaster County Commissioner, Craig Lehman, and put my name on Joe Sestak’s petition for PA Senate. I even took one to get more signatures, so if you are a Lancaster, PA resident, are registered to vote, and haven’t yet signed a petition for Benedict Arlen DisreSpecter, come sign my petition for Joe Sestak! Then, I signed Sue Stoltzfus’s petition for PA State Committee, as well as 5 other petitions for Lancaster Committee people. I was introduced to Renee Martin at the Jack Wagner for Governor table, then I grabbed some coffee and finally got to meet Martine (@politicslovr) who was working the Lois Herr for Congress table. Lois Herr is a Capricorn, running against Libra, Joe the Pitts of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the Affordable Healthcare for America Act. After Martine and I chatted, I looked on my UberTwitter and saw that Beth Becker (@spedwybabs) had arrived and was looking for me. The funny thing was that as I told Martine that Beth was looking for me, she said, “Oh, Beth is right over there.” Beth was within 10 feet of where I was, haha! So, we got a picture together and proceeded to tweet away about how the convention was progressing.

Eventually, everyone settled into their seats as Bruce Beardsley, the Lancaster County Chairman called the meeting to order and gave the introductory remarks. We then broke out into workshop sessions, of which I attended the “Computer Sampler” with Ken Ralph, Common Ground newsletter editor. After the first session, I moseyed over to the Joe Hoeffel for PA Governor table, signed his petition, and then met Jena Grosser (@jena_grosser) who I had been following on twitter since DemFest 2010. The second breakout session I attended was “How Not To Do It Yourself,” led by Ken Ralph and Sally Lyall.

Lunch was a blast, where I met Sonya and Sandy Duncan of Columbia Borough, and sat with my committee person and district leader, Bill Sheaffer, as well as the LCDC office manager, Tracey Lynn Arriola. It was also during the lunch break that the candidates for PA Governor showed up: Dan Onorato the Aquarius came by our table first, then Jonathan Saidel the Gemini (Lt Gov), and finally Joe Hoeffel the Virgo. I got a picture with Joe but am waiting to get it from Bill’s camera. You’d better believe it will be on my facebook and twitter! I’ve been a fan and supporter of Joe Hoeffel since I met him at the Ambler R5 train station when he ran for Congress in 1998. I was a Sophomore at Temple University and rode the SEPTA from Ambler to Philly 5 days a week and was impressed to see Joe out on the tracks, greeting the commuters. Then, in 2005, he agreed to read my poem, Closet Rebel (email me if you’d like to read it), that I wrote for the Montgomery County Wissahickon Democrats, “Thank You” party for volunteers. To top it all off, Joe is also a Virgo, born on September 3rd, my astrology sign as well. We Virgo’s are awesome. Organized, hard-working, virtuous, practical, and down-to-earth.

You can bet I was sooooo totally stoked when Joe not only lit the room on FYRE with his speech but then clinched the endorsement for PA Governor from the Lancaster Democrats. Hell yea! Then, Joe Sestak the Capricorn shows up in his green military jacket and takes the floor. He didn’t speak from the podium like the other candidates—he stood with the people and walked up and down the aisle speaking to us with passion and conviction. (He did the same at the Chester County Dems meeting. See YouTube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozJF9z0tXLQ) I must admit, I almost cried. The only candidate that didn’t show, was of course, Arlen DisreSpecter. And guess what, he got NO LOVE from Lancaster County. Joe Sestak received the endorsement. And although Gemini Jonathan Saidel didn’t get endorsed by the Lancaster Dems, I got a chance to talk with him and to hear him speak. He’s already been endorsed by the state committee and many other county committees. Doris Smith-Ribner (no birth date known yet) is great as well—in fact, she’s amazing. I wish I had known who she was prior to Saturday’s convention but I have time to learn more and hope she stays on the scene for a while.

All in all, I had a great time at the convention—I even got to be “mic runner” for all the committee nominations. I shook a lot of hands and actually remembered to hand out business cards. I should probably thank the recent new moon at 26 degrees Aquarius, that was conjunct my MC, the angle for career and reputation, for the public exposure I had this weekend. I cast a chart for the actual convention below. The time was set for when I arrived, a little after 8am, which was the time the convention was scheduled to begin. I like the Aries ascendant that had our group fired up but also in good spirits—note the chart ruler, Mars in the 5th house of recreation. The north node is in close conjunction with the 11th house of groups and associations, and power-monger Pluto is sitting very high in the chart near the MC, in the sign of Capricorn, ruled by Saturn. The moon in Taurus was set in the 2nd house of values, its home position as Taurus rules the 2nd house, and it was nice to hear Chairman Beardsley touch on Democratic values during his opening speech, mentioning how there are now over 100,000 registered Dems in Lancaster Co, 50 state offices are held by Lancaster officials, the PA State Democratic organization used Lancaster’s strategy as a template for the state, that power flows upward from the districts to the state level, and that we must keep in mind that for the primary we are running and competing against friends and allies. I’m optimistic that that Saturn in Libra on the cusp of the 7th helped to forge some fortunate alliances and partnerships for this year’s election cycle. More to come! Go Dems in 2010!

PA Political Astrology: Narrowing down the candidates for Governor (Part 1)

[tweetmeme]The race for PA Governor has taken a slight turn during this lovely Mercury Retrograde (ending this Friday, January 15, 2010), in that Jim Gerlach (R-Pisces) has decided to withdraw and, instead, run for re-election in the 6th Congressional District. This leaves only two GOP candidates left—Tom Corbett and Sam Rohrer—both Leo Suns (though Corbett is on the Leo-Virgo cusp). The Democrats, however, still have four candidates (that I’m aware of) in the mix: Joe Hoeffel (Virgo), Dan Onorato (Aquarius), Jack Wagner (Capricorn), and Tom Knox (unknown- if you know his birthdate, please share it). Fortunately for me, I can avoid experiencing the Democratic, decision paralysis that comes with more than two options—if you know me personally, then you know who my choice for Governor has always been and will be when I walk into the booth, then out of the booth, and on with my blue-blooded life. However, for the sake of the science of astrology—which has no “favorites”—I will remain relatively objective-ish and save my opinion for twitter, facebook, and casual conversation. 🙂 I’ll hold off on breaking down the natal charts of the Democratic candidates until after the field has quieted down. I wish them all luck in raising money and bolstering confidence and name recognition amongst the voters for the Primary—plus, I’d like to see some Lt. Governor action so I can have a clearer picture of what’s in store.

I will say that it’s almost obvious who the Republican candidate will be: Tom Corbett (Leo), Attorney General. I mean, come on, he has the name recognition and is the Republican poster boy leading the charge of investigating corruption in the PA House of Representatives. He’s probably investigating you right now. (Damn, I may have just been targeted…) He squatted and claimed the domain name “www.attorneygeneral.gov” before anyone else did and is very interested in technology. (I only know this because I watched him being interviewed on PCN TV a few months ago and this is what he said.) Plus, he’s got a bit of the Jimmy Johnson thing going on. So, unless some miraculous manipulator gets him to withdraw from the race in order to continue his post as Attorney General on a Legislative witch hunt, it will be Corbett who faces the “chosen one” on the Democratic side of the ballot.

When looking at political candidates, I always look at the Moon and Venus first because those two planets deal with popularity and finances—two very crucial components for getting elected. Because I don’t have a birth time for Corbett’s natal chart, I’m using 6am. (This is a standard that I use as a default when I want to see how the planets are relating to one another.) I can only estimate the position of his natal Moon since it moves so quickly in the course of 24 hours (approx 13 degrees per day). At 6am it was at 5 degrees Leo, however, it can range between 2 to 15 degrees Leo on his recorded birth date of August 22, 1949, per Project Vote Smart. If it’s in the early degrees of Leo, his nata; Moon is favorably aspected by natal Venus (usually a good thing) and also the progressed Moon is conjunct the progressed Sun- forming a Progressed New Moon (also viewed as favorable). However, if his natal Moon is more toward the mid-degrees of Leo, it forms a tight conjunction with Pluto (a very powerful planet for good or ill) and also would be forming a favorable aspect to progressed Venus.  Additionally, transiting Pluto is forming a T-square with his natal Venus and natal Uranus, an indicator of dramatic and unexpected changes to finances and popularity, or females in one’s life. Any way I look at it, he’s got a strong chart, which can be seen by his current station in PA politics.

What is interesting is transiting Saturn is conjunct his natal Venus, which is also involved in the T-square with Uranus and Pluto. Saturn always adds an element of restriction, and when involved with Venus it can signal monetary restriction. However, that may not be a big deal because of his apparent lack of need for campaigning  (See header: Tom Corbett’s Free Campaign). On the other hand, Corbett has been accused of targeting Democrats over Republicans for investigation, most recently in the case of Senator Jane Orie. Time will unravel all the exciting details—his natal Sun is being supported by the energy of progressed Mars (even though the rest of us are experiencing the Mars retrograde), though opposed by the Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron conjunction. Also, the transiting north node is passing over his natal Jupiter. His chart (below) is nothing to scoff at but stay tuned…