All that sound and fury for nothing. Babs Hafer pulls the plug on her primary bid:
Hafer's withdrawal came less than 24 hours after she was still defiantly questioning the process by which her opponent, Mark Critz, had won the party's nomination for a special election. On Tuesday, she was still telling reporters that she planned to run in the May primary against Critz. She filed nominating petitions to get on the ballot, but said Wednesday she was withdrawing those petitions.
"We had a spirited campaign for who would make the best nominee in the special election, but in the spirit of Jack Murtha I believe now is not the time to continue this race," Hafer said in a statement. "I look forward to finding other ways to continue to serve the public and change this state and this country for the better."
This is good news for Critz, who now only faces primary competition from the lesser-known threesome that is Cambria County Controller Ed Cernic Jr., Navy veteran Ryan Bucchianeri and attorney Ron Mackell Jr. While it's pretty irritating that Hafer was continuing her attacks at fever pitch right up until yesterday, at least this is one less distraction to worry about.
UPDATE: As Adam B. notes in the comments, it looks like Hafer would have very likely been thrown off the ballot after barely filing enough signatures to qualify for the primary ballot. As you know, it's pretty easy to challenge the validity of signatures, which is why candidates with a competent organization ensure that they file many more signatures than they actually require.
