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By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
Bill O'Boyle on Facebook   |   @TLBillOboyle on Twitter

WILKES-BARRE – John McCain, Chris Hackett and Lou Barletta all lost Tuesday, but leaders of the Luzerne County Republican Party see a victory in the results.

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Their hopes are lifted, they say, by Barletta’s showing in Luzerne County.

Barletta, who lost his bid to unseat Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, for the 11th Congressional District seat, amassed 54,293 votes in the county to Kanjorski’s 49,318, according to unofficial results.

Overall, Kanjorski had 142,720 votes to Barletta’s 133,365, pulling most of his strength in Lackawanna and Monroe counties. Barletta carried Luzerne, Carbon and Columbia counties.

Hackett, of Kingston Township, lost to incumbent Chris Carney, D-Dimock Township, by a margin of 56.4 percent to 43.6 percent.

Barletta, the Hazleton mayor, returned to his office on Wednesday and vowed to continue to work for the city. He said he was pleased with how well he did in Luzerne County.

And so was county Republican Party Chairman Terry Casey who complimented the overall effort of campaign workers in all races.

“Tomorrow we just start pushing the rock back up the hill,” Casey said. “I’m very proud of the effort that came out of our Republican headquarters and our volunteers. They all did a bang-up job.”

Barletta said it’s too early to think about what direction his political future might take, but he was sure to send one clear message.

“One thing for sure, Lou Barletta will not fade quietly into the night,” he said. “I’m very proud of the Republican Party in Luzerne County; they worked very hard. There were a lot of volunteers who had an incredible level of enthusiasm.”

Kanjorski, the Nanticoke attorney who is headed for his 13th term in Washington, rode the coattails of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in Luzerne County. Of Kanjorski’s 49,318 vote total, 30,303 were straight-party votes.

“The congressman is also from Luzerne County,” Barletta said of Kanjorski. “And they threw a lot at me – Bill Clinton was here the night before the election and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama did commercials on his behalf.”

Tom Baldino, professor of political science at Wilkes University, also sees a silver lining for the county Republicans.

Baldino said he never thought the Luzerne County Republican Party was dead and despite the success of the Democrats Tuesday, still feels that way.

“It shows that if you run good candidates in Luzerne County – and Lou Barletta was a good candidate – you will have success,” Baldino said. “Now there was some unhappiness with Kanjorski, but unquestionably, it’s all about the candidates.”

Baldino said the GOP has an opportunity to recruit and support candidates who will challenge and perhaps win county row offices in the next election.

“I see a golden opportunity for the party,” he said. “If they can convince Barletta to run for county commissioner with Steve Urban, they can take control of the party.”

Casey said he was surprised the Republican presidential ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin didn’t fare better in northeast Pennsylvania. Obama and running mate Joe Biden received 71,903 votes in the county to 60,512 for McCain-Palin.

“I didn’t really have an understanding of how angry voters were with the events of the past eight years,” Casey said. “Even so, I still think McCain-Palin had a pretty impressive showing in the region. It shows that voters were just not happy with Republicans. Many of them probably opened their 401(k) statements recently and decided anything would be better than what we have now.”

The Republican headquarters on Public Square was closed and dark Wednesday. Signs were still on the window and others were stacked inside next to a life-size cutout of McCain. Sandra Kase, executive director of the local party, said the office will remain open, but the hours of operation have not been set. She said the headquarters will move to the Intermodal Transportation Center when it opens sometime in 2009.

“At this point, we’re just thinking about the entire election,” Kase said. “There’s really nothing more we could have done to work harder for our candidates.”