HARRISBURG - Only one week after Governor Ed Rendell endorsed New York Senator Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination in this year’s presidential election, Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll threw the prestige of her office behind another candidate. Telling a crowd of reporters and voters assembled outside of her office “this country can no longer afford the do-nothing government of Dwight Eisenhower,” Lieutenant Governor Knoll said she was supporting Governor Adlai Stevenson in his bid for the White House. “He has done a fabulous job for the people of the state of Illinois , and he’ll do a fabulous job for the people of America,” said Knoll. Aides who at tended the press conference appeared surprised at her announcement. Several staff members took her arms and attempted to move her away from the microphone towards an exit, but she refused to budge. “I know many of you were expecting me to offer my support to [New York Governor Averell] Harriman, and there were a few things I liked about Festus, too [an apparent reference to Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver] but after giving the matter due consideration, I’m sticking with Adlai.”
When a reporter shouted that Governor Stevenson died in 1965, a defiant Lieutenant Governor shouted back, “My mind is made up.” Late yesterday, Governor Rendell’s office issued a press release explaining that the Lieutenant Governor was being sent on a fact-finding mission to the South Pole and would not return until hours before her term expires.
