Bits and Bobs: "More Scrutiny of Budget Spin, Please" Edition

Pretty slow news day today. Some dusty stories here from over the weekend too:

• Gubernatorial candidates discuss the looming pension crisis. All candidates admit the need to make some tough choices, except Tom Corbett, who only mentions the low-hanging fruit of changing the vesting age - about 1/10th of 1% of the problem. Courageous!

• Ed Rendell also had a laugh at Tom Corbett over his no-tax pledge, saying he "needs to have his head examined." He also challenges the media to ask Corbett, and others who would slash the budget without raising new revenue, what specific programs they want to cut and what the effects will be. I hope reporters will ask all the candidates whether they support all the exemptions in the current tax code.

• This story on the Americus hotel describes an interesting carrot-and-stick strategy for improving blighted properties in Allentown. Are Bethlehem and Easton doing anything similar?

• Politico has a piece on Tea Party candidates falling short in elections. I've been making this argument for a while, and I guess we'll see if I'm right in November, but I really just don't see any way to keep growing the Tea Party beyond the small core of people who are currently interested in it. It's not like there's a coherent common worldview there beyond inchoate anger at the government. You hear a lot about cutting spending, but when even self-identified conservatives voters are asked what they want to cut, it turns out they love all categories of Big Government spending. Again, reporters should make sure to ask candidates what specific programs they want to see cut.