Philly Democratic donors rally to GOP U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan

While suburban Democratic county leaders have endorsed LaSalle political scientist and Fulbright scholar Mary Ellen Balchunis for Congress in Pa.'s 7th District...

And new-wave Center City Democrats like marketing mogul Richard Vague have introduced their friends to rival primary candidate Rev. Bill Golderer, the Presbyterian pastor who would fill the activist footsteps of the late U.S. Rep. Bob Edgar, D-Pa., in the GOP-leaning district....

Mainstream Democratic fundraisers like union leader John J. Dougherty and national fundraiser-lawyers Alan C. Kessler, Bill Leonard and Mark Alan Aronchick are joining GOP leaders Vito Canuso and Pat Deon in raising piles of cash for incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-7th.

"It's a two-party system. Things don't get done unless people from both parties are there. Pat is one who reaches across the aisle and gets things done," Kessler told me.

The Democrats are piling in to back Meehan as he faces a challenge from conservative Stan Casacio, a real estate investor and developer based in Whitemarsh Township and endorsed by the Berks County GOP. "We're not surprised he is getting donations from Democrats and special interest," said Casacio campaign manager Sean Gale, brother of Montgomery County commissioner Joe Gale. "We believe Pat is a Republican in name only."

The all-male Host Committee's invitation says it'll cost you $1,000 to back Pat at Capital Grill, Broad and Chestnut, at a March 9th dinnertime event. Or $2,500 to join that big-league bipartisan Host Committee.

"Pat is clearly the Establishment's candidate," Haverford Township Democratic leader Jack Stollsteimer told me when I sent him the invite (which I got from a surprised Center City Republican). His committee will weigh endorsements at its monthly meeting on St. Patrick's Eve (March 16).

Delco's dominant GOP has a history of being union-friendly (see also ex-State Sens. the late Clarence Bell and Dominic Pileggi, ousted from his leaderhship post last session for being too moderate).

Others on the bipartisan Meehan event's host committee include lawyers S. David Fineman, CharlesKopp, John R. Saler, Jim Schultz, Michael J. Tierney.