Craig Williams probably isn’t going to get elected to Congress next week, according to political soothsayers from Delaware County to Washington, D.C., but Democrats may want to keep a watchful eye on this Republican Marine between now and 2010.

The former federal prosecutor and Gulf War veteran turned in an impressive debate performance yesterday against U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, a retired Navy admiral and heavy favorite to win a second term in Tuesday’s election.  read more »

At 70, Beverly Shandrick has been a Democrat for decades. She likes U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski and says, “He’s done a lot for the senior citizens.”

But the “immigration problem,” she says, might drive her to vote Nov. 4 for Republican Lou Barletta, Hazleton’s mayor, who became a national conservative icon by cracking down on the illegal immigrants he said were draining the life from his city in the old coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania.

“They’re taking over the town,” Shandrick says of immigrants. “There’s been a lot of crime since they moved in.”

In a poll commissioned by Roll Call Newspaper, SUSA has incumbent Jason Altmire ahead of former Congresswoman Melissa Hart 54-42 in PA-04.
The 4th covers most of Beaver County and parts of Lawrence, Allegheny and Butler counties.

Both candidates hold about the same percent of their base, but Altmire leads 50-41 among self-describe independents.

This is ridiculous – first of all, Carney is hardly a “Nancy Pelosi liberal.” He’s a moderate congressman from a moderate district; good match, no? Second, it’s extraordinarily distasteful to make these accusations while Carney, a Commander in the Naval Reserve, is on active duty. Sorry Hackett, he doesn’t have time to campaign against your constant negative attacks because he’s doing actual work for the people; something you’d know nothing about.

From Hackett’s campaign manager:

“Chris Carney obviously thinks he’s a Washington big shot now. First he abandoned his promise to represent Pennsylvania values by voting with Nancy Pelosi and the liberals 90 percent of the time. Now he refuses to even show enough respect for voters to defend his record in open and honest debates. Carney is a sorry excuse for a congressman, trying to win an election behind negative attacks instead of debates.”

Moments after Army Lt. Col. William Russell ended his 28-year military career, the Iraq war veteran revved up his Harley-Davidson and set out on an improbable journey.

In his first political outing, Russell is trying to topple a political giant.

The 45-year-old Republican this weekend kicked off his campaign against U.S. Rep. John Murtha, 76, of Johnstown, a powerful Democrat and decorated Vietnam War veteran seeking a 19th term.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-15th District, slightly outraised Democratic challenger Sam Bennett with a haul of $244,000 during the second quarter of the year as the candidates padded their war chests for the campaign stretch run.

Bennett’s $222,000 tally from April through June was her best quarterly take since she jumped into the race in early 2007, bringing her overall fundraising to $534,000, her campaign said.

Tuesday was the deadline for candidates to disclose their fundraising numbers to the Federal Election Commission. Their next filing won’t come until mid-October, just weeks before the Nov. 4 election.  read more »

Sources tell us that good ole’ Chris Hackett had a great time supporting American Values at the Independence Day parade in Montrose. He even brought American Flag pins to give out to supporters!

Except they were made in China. Mr. Hackett, your patriotism shines through once again! Nice work.

As usual, Gort has the scoop:

The Chris Hackett camp sent out a release today pointing out that he is having a big-dollar fundraising breakfast hosted by a Washington, DC lobbying firm whose major clients include the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, which has fought for placing tolls on Interstate I-80. The implication is that Carney is for tolling I-80 even though he is on the record as being opposed to it.
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