Posted on 02/08/2010 4:52:14 PM PST by Pontiac
Immediately following the news of his death, election analysts rated the race as competitive for the GOP.
While Murtha has held the seat since 1974 with few re-election scares, the Johnstown-area district outside of Pittsburgh has right-leaning roots, and a special election contest will be targeted by House Republicans. With Murtha’s death, Democrats now control the House by a 256-178 margin.
In the 2008 presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) won the district by a narrow 1,000 vote margin against President Barack Obama. It was the only district in the nation, however, that voted Democratic in the 2004 presidential race that was carried by McCain four years later.
Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell must set a date for a special election within the next ten days, according to state law. A likely date is May 18, when the state’s primary elections will take place.
The House Democratic campaign operation is in better shape financially to wage a costly special election battle against their Republican counterparts, with a five-to-one cash on hand advantage.
While Murtha was closely allied with liberal lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he did not share their progressive leanings. He was known for championing defense spending and was socially conservative on matters including abortion.
There were already two Republicans in the race: businessman Tim Burns and unsuccessful 2008 Republican nominee William Russell, who Murtha defeated 58%-42%. Murtha had also drawn a primary challenge from veteran Ryan Bucchianeri, although there will likely be no shortage of local elected officials and other Democrats interested in making a bid.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
Well Murtha called them all Rednecks - guess they’ll vote dem again.
Murtha’s not dead. He just became a corpseman. (I couldn’t resist)
Ping to those on previous thread
He may be a corpsman but at least he can still vote.
Considering Murtha was marine in Nam, I found his recent remarks about our troops appalling.
Does anyone know the Burns and Russell positions on military matters and right to life.
'Member Teddy? I think God has picked sides.
What a cold world politics is.
A man dies and before he is room temperature, people are vying for position to take his place.
Local politics is not far from world politics in its basic operating maxim: there are no friends, there are only interests.
Rename, repackage, rewrite it a tad smaller, and sell another pig in a poke.
Tennessee has joined several other states in trying to pass a Health Care Freedom Act. NO COLAs for granny, retired Military or retired fed employees. BIG NEW fees for Tricare for Life retired over 65 Military's secondary health ins. (DOD bill already passed, delayed but goes into effect 2011)
New Dem mantra: Woof, woof eat dog food granny....ala let them eat cake.
At least some of these people were vying for his position before he died. He was facing a tough fight this time out.
Wonder if Diana Irey would like to return to do a Scott Brown?
“Murtha’s Seat”
Russell is recently discharged from the US Army - and in fact could not campaign for most of the last election cycle, as he was still in uniform. He had others campaign by proxy. Try this link for more info:
http://vets4russell.blogspot.com/
It’d be nice to see another Scott Brown type campaign here, with a solid, personable GOP conservative candidate.
This election is guaranteed to turn into another national referendum on the Obamunists, with both sides throwing everything they have at it.
Additionally, the Tea Partiers, we Freepers, and freedom-loving conservatives across the nation can once again join in a bottom-up fashion just like we did with Scott Brown, contributing money and effort directly to the candidate.
A defeat for the Dims for this election will be utterly devastating, particularly if Obama shows up and they lose again. Even more interesting will be if Obama hangs back and does not show up to campaign for some hand-selected Obamunist candidate.
At any rate, this election will have massive national implications for November, one way or the other.
We here need to be prepared to step into the fray and help make sure the Dims are sent packing one more time.
Any ideas on who is likely to run? Who picks the candidates for the special election? Bill Russell is the reasonable choice on the Republican side, and it looks like the Dems are well represented in the legislature in the area.
Well, there should be a special primary election (not like the fiascoes in NY where elites, rather than the people, chose the nominee). Bill Russell will be the likely GOP nominee. Murtha was already facing a Dem challenger in Ryan Joseph Bucchianeri, but he may not be the choice of the Dem elites in the district. In an open situation in this climate, I think Russell may be an upset winner. This was a GOP seat prior to Murtha, and Murtha’s win in a February ‘74 special after Republican incumbent John Saylor died was a harbinger of the anti-GOP backlash that fall.
Correction here, I’m seeing conflicting info. For a relatively recent special election, there was a special primary, another says the nominee will be chosen similar to the method in NY by party elites (party committee meeting). There may be more risk here for the Democrats if they piss off potential applicants who think this is their turn. State Sen. John Wozniak is one of those on the Dem side who has apparently considered himself Murtha’s heir apparent.
It’s also possible local Republicans may pass on Russell and put up State Reps. Jeff Pyle or David Reed.
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