It was a contest fueled by trial lawyers' money and partisan politics in which Orie Melvin was vastly outspent and faced a 1.2 million-voter registration deficit.
She gives the high court (currently 4-3 Democratic) a 4-3 Republican edge starting in January. That puts the GOP in the driver's seat in drawing legislative district lines after the 2010 census, which could impact state politics for a decade.
She clearly was helped by a state judicial election pattern favoring women from western counties that draws gender and regional support. She also ran an aggressive, hard-hitting campaign, saying her opponent's acceptance of millions of dollars in contributions from trial lawyers and labor looked like "justice for sale."
And she might have benefited from Philly's World Series-mania (there was no focus on this race) and the surprise transit strike early yesterday morning that helped keep some of the city's overwhelmingly Democratic vote from going to the polls.
Something kept Democrats away.
In the 2007 Supreme Court race, Pittsburgh Democrat Debra Todd got more than 167,000 votes in Philly. Yesterday, Panella, with 95 percent of the city vote counted, got fewer than 93,000.
The reform group Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts yesterday said that Panella set a new state record for judicial fundraising, raking in $2.35 million. Money usually wins these things.
But Orie Melvin was endorsed by every major newspaper endorsing in the race and got cash and help from GOP committees and officeholders. It didn't hurt that her sister, state Sen. Jane Orie, is Senate majority whip. Campaign finance records show large contributions flowing to and from the senator's campaign committee and various GOP committees.
