TPMmuckraker just reported that the conservative backed and funded Green Party PA Senate candidate, Carl Romanelli is off the ballot. Ruling that too many of Romanelli’s signatures for his spot on the ballot were invalid, the judge has for all intents and purposes, ended this right wing distraction in Pennyslvania.

That strikes a deadly blow to Pennsylvania Republicans’ gambit to draw votes away from Democrat Bob Casey by fielding a Green candidate. As we reported earlier, all of Romanelli’s support was from conservative donors, and Sen. Rick Santorum’s (R-PA) volunteers worked hard gathering signatures to get Romanelli on the ballot. The Santorum campaign has admitted steering help toward the Romanelli campaign.

After Romanelli gathered almost 100,000 signatures to qualify, Democrats challenged the signatures’ validity. A court fight followed, and now a judge has found that the Greens are short almost 9,000 valid signatures from the 67,000 required by law.