Our governor here in Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell, came out a while back supporting Hillary Clinton for President. This didn't surprise me, as the Governor strikes me as a glad-handing, I'll-slap-your-back-if-you-slap-mine, old-time politico kind of guy. He kind of reminds me of Chicago's late Mayor Richard Daley, whom I'm barely old enough to remember. Daley was part of one of America's most illustrious political machines, and ran the Windy City with an iron fist for years.

I wasn't much more surprised when our mayor here in Pittsburgh, Luke Ravenstahl, and his close cohort, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, both came out in support of Clinton a couple of weeks ago. They remind me a lot of Rendell, except they're a younger, better-dressed version of the Governor. And then there's Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who's nuts about Clinton even though his constituency is solidly pro-Obama.

But I was absolutely floored when U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a STAUNCH opponent of the Iraq war, came out in support of Clinton several days ago. Note to Murtha: Clinton voted FOR the war; her opponent, Barack Obama, has opposed it since day one. I guess I assumed, probably incorrectly, that Murtha was proud to be his own man around Bush's War and most everything else and didn't need to be a part of any political circle or ol' boy network to validate himself. I truly got the impression he was outside the political machine.

Makes me wonder if our "leaders" here in Pennsylvania are nothing more than sheep, following that which will insure the status quo -- their elected offices, their power and their prestige. A continual greasing of their wheels, as it were. The problem is that while they grease THEIR wheels, the wheels are about to fall off OUR cars thanks to all the potholes on the streets. Guys, it's about Main Street, not Wall Street or wherever else the Clintons (can you say "tax shelters"?) and their friends are making their money these days.

Thank goodness Barack Obama knows it's all about US. And I'm happy to say that nearly two million online donors to Obama's campaign obviously feel the same way.