I arrived ten minutes after six and left the First Unitarian Church a few minutes after Bob Casey. Still, I'll share a quick rundown of the event. Attendance was very good. I'm not a headcount estimator but it appeared there were a few hundred people. The center pews were all packed and the side pews had enough, especially up front. People continued to arrive for most of the hour I was there.

After being introduced, Ray Murphy welcomed the crowd and talked for half an hour. He was articulate, passionate and I thought he kept everyone's attention riveted. He stated that Bob Casey was expected to show up at 6:30 pm but that you know how candidates are and that we should keep our fingers crossed. Ray began with his usual spiel--introducing Philadelphia's Against Santorum (PAS) and explaining how by engaging people one on one it's possible to get infrequent voters to the polls and make a difference in Pennsylvania this upcoming election. Then Ray explained why PAS was changing it's stance from being against Rick Santorum to being for Bob Casey. Wrapping up nicely at 6:30pm on the dot, he said PAS was proud to endorse Bob Casey as a PA Senator and to present him to us. Promptly, Bob Casey walked out from the doors behind him and strode to the podium. I don't know if it was lucky timing or good organization but the moment was beautifully orchestrated.

For more on the PAS townhall with Bob Casey, keep reading.

Bob Casey spoke directly and smoothly to the crowd in the church for at least fifteen minutes. He was as polished as you'd expect your politicians to be. He was enthusiastic. He touched on the issues that Ray said PAS members and Philadelphians really cared about. He stated that what he stood for was a "new direction" rather than Santorum's "more of the same." Among Casey's bullet points were that Congress Representatives shouldn't get raises until the minimum wage was raised, that oil companies shouldn't be subsided at the expense of the environment and that this country needed to improve homeland security, it needed a smarter foreign policy and it needed a new defense secretary. (I'll say.) He promised to hold the President accountable. Casey quoted liberally from his recent debate with Santorum, being sure to clearly outline the differences between himself and Rick Santorum.

Afterwards, Casey answered five questions from voters. I couldn't hear them all (and I've got to do some work this morning) but he was prepared. The first question was on how Casey would deal with a women’s right to chose. Casey stated apologetically that he knew we had some disagreements but he went on to state that he supported distributing Plan B and that he was for civil unions. Another question dealt with guns and Casey pulled out his index cards to get the stats on a gun shop in West Philly or Darby—I forget which—where guns sold were connected to 400 plus crimes in the past year. He promised that at the very least, he’d beef up AFT enforcement capabilities. I didn’t catch all the questions so feel free to add your comments.

My favorite anecdote from Casey as he wrapped up his speech was the story of a social worker who cares for underprivileged kids who said that sometimes our burdens are our greatest blessings. Casey said that as a public official who would be honored to serve—he would always fight to relieve the burdens of those like that incredible women who bear burdens that are greater than they should be.

Overall, I was favorably impressed with Bob Casey. He was a little too apologetic on some of his answers when he knew the crowd disagreed with him—but he’d definitely be a decent public official. If he can let more people see him with the stances that he articulated last night, he’ll win this race.