A Good Year for the Outlaw

I am so intrigued by the “callahanforcongress” website, and the subsequent questions about it’s authenticity, that I can’t let it rest.

This is a list of candidates for ALL offices in the State of Pennsylvania this year, including those running for Federal positions. The name “Callahan” does not appear on the list.

Today I called the City of Bethlehem, PA to speak to the Mayor John B. Callahan (I still await his return call) and his secretary was just as surprised to hear that he might be running for congress as the news director of the local radio station was when I talked to him yesterday.

I have also left another message with the John B. Callahan from State College, PA (182 miles from Bethlehem) to see if it is HIM that is pondering a run for office.

This is fun, I like working on weird stories. We’ll keep trying to get to the bottom of it. Until then, the saga goes on.

BIG UPDATE: John B. Callahan from State College, PA, the pharmaceutical rep, returned my phone call today, and here is what transpired:

I introduced myself, and gave him a quick summation of the chatter that has been occurring here in Illinois regarding a certain website.

1. It turns out Mr. Callahan is indeed the man who registered that website with GoDaddy.com, he was happy to admit that information to me.

2. He says it happened “after a friend of mine and I got into a heated political discussion one night. He showed up the next night with his daughter in a “Callahan For Congress” T-shirt and I decided to put it on the web, and start the site ‘callahanforcongress.com’. It’s just a joke. I have no intention of running for office.”

3. He is aware of the Mayor John B. Callahan on Bethlehem, and says he even knows the mayor’s wife, Matalda, who at one time apparently worked for the same company that the State College John B. Callahan does.

4. He says both he and his friend are Republicans, hence the x-ed out donkey on the little girl’s t-shirt.

5. When I asked him what his friend’s little girl’s name was, he said “Emma”. He was not aware that the Callahans across the state in Bethlehem also have a little girl named Emma. He laughed at the coincidence.

6. Finally, when I asked him, ”do you know anyone in Illinois?”, he said “not that I’m aware of.”  He did have one long pause, and that was when I related to him how his website went up the very same day that Colleen Callahan’s name was tossed into the ring as a possible opponent for the GOP opponent. At no time did I tell him the GOP opponent’s name, at no time did he ask for it, or offer up that he knew who it was. He just said, “wow”, when I brought that up.

So, this whole thing may be solved. Then again it may not be.

Either way, we now know exactly who owns the site: John B. Callahan of State College, PA. We know he’s not running for congress, despite what “Democrat Pundit” said on one of Billy’s threads. We know that he owns the site for exactly one year, and through what he told me, there are no plans to do anything else than what’s already on the site.

What we DON’T know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, is whether or not this site was the brainchild of someone outside of Pennsylvania, but do we really need to know? There are too many strange coincidences to totally close the case. We do not know if the T-shirt on the little girl was really created by Mr. Callahan’s friend, or photoshopped later (check the “C” in “Congress” and see if it matches up with the fold in the little girl’s shirt, for instance). There are many things we know, and still some things that, if this were a court of law, would remain open for question and interpretation.

Be that as it may, whatever the case, if the other campaign new a guy in PA and got him to do this…so what? It’s just politics. There’s nothing overly malicious, just a good move to squat a site. But that’s only IF it happened. Maybe all of these little quirks are just that…quirks and coincidences. January 17th. Emma. Two John B. Callahans. It’s all too much fun.

I’ve enjoyed the hunt.