Posted on 09/22/2010 12:26:04 PM PDT by The Pack Knight
LANGHORNE, Pa. -- From the 1930s through the 1950s, Bucks County northeast of Philadelphia acquired a glamorous reputation as a retreat for Manhattan celebrities, including Oscar Hammerstein, who, according to local legend, was inspired by the view from his Doylestown front porch to write “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” the opening song of “Oklahoma!” Today the county, which is 93 percent of Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, figures in Republicans’ plans to sing that song on the morning of Nov. 3.
The district has about 209,000 Democrats, 189,000 Republicans and 66,000 independents. The seat is held by a Democrat, Patrick Murphy, 36, the first Iraq War veteran to serve in Congress. He was elected in 2006 when he defeated the one-term Republican incumbent, Mike Fitzpatrick, 47, an attorney, who is Murphy’s opponent again this year.
More than half of the 7 percent of the district that is not in Bucks County is in northeast Philadelphia, where a lot of the city’s police and firefighters live -- they are required to reside in the city -- and many conservative Democrats, too. The remainder of the district is in suburban Montgomery County. Lower Bucks County is primarily blue collar, the upper county is agricultural and the central portion is an upper-income bedroom community for Philadelphia.
(Excerpt) Read more at jacksonville.com ...
Also, as Will points out later in the column, the 8th District is one where Hillary Clinton won heavily in the 2008 primary. The Clinton-Obama battle could have some consequences in this race - despite the fact that Bill campaigned for Murphy in 2006, Murphy was one of the first Congressmen to endorse Obama in 2008.
This might be of interest to Philly Metro Freepers.
Murphy had a terrible, meltdown town hall earlier this year that made the You Tube rounds. Since then he has been quiet. Just saw his first ad today and it was not good, and he says nothing of his votes. You would think he’s an R. That said, the last numbers had this race tight. I think Fitzpatrick can make ground cramming Murphy’s record down his throat. Rendell’s name is mud here, 26% approval, and Obummer is not well liked. He has no one to back him up anymore. Plus Toomey and Corbett are on fire and energizing the base.
I happen to be, at this very moment, working right outside Doylestown, PA, Bucks County. It’s a beautiful, once rural county (at least in the central and north) ruined by 90s urban sprawl that added thousands of high-priced estate homes.
What I remember most of the Murphy/Fitzpatrick run in 08 were the small yards signs saying “Sierra Club for Fitzpatrick.” That says it all. Murphy also claims to be a Blue Dog dem but that’s a farce and I called his office after Stimulus and asked them to take down the icon.
Fitz’s predecessor was a RINO - Greenwood. He voted for some bill that was against the Boy Scouts and I immediately sent him a withering email asking why he doesn’t just switch parties. He called me within 3 minutes and said the vote was a mistake then went on to defend his RINO-ness.
It’s a tough county and we’ve lost Santorum and Specter (good riddance) and Fitzpatrick in the last couple of years.
But Hammerstein was right about the county - at least what farm country is left.
This is my district. I will make certain that my husband and daughter get to the polls. Hubby goes happily enough, daughter needs a threat or two. She’ll get them.
I used to live right outside of Doylestown. It’s a lovely little town, but we moved a few miles north to some of that rural land. But we’re still in Murphy’s district and we plan to vote. Hubby is one of those democrats, but he’s stopped voting with them years ago.
We should get together area Freepers some time!
Pennsylvanians will not forget that Murphy tried to push through a bill to force PA to accept homosexual marriage. It is now our turn to twist the screws on this filthy decadent fudge packing pig. Oh Yeah, your gonna take it deep and hard, Murphy. New Hope can have him, pftt!
I think you mean “No Hope”.
Murphy is Nancy Pelosi’s pool boy. I’m determined to get him on video being asked a simple question; What is a natural born citizen? I have a plan to get it and will post the video.
BTW, I’d like to get Fitzpatrick’s answer just as badly.
I grew up in Telford we lived on county line road in Montomery Co. across the street was Bucks. My Dad worked for a time in Doylestown. I remember this crazy looking house, I think people called it the Doylestown Castle! Rural Pa was a great place to grow up!
County Line Rd. is total gridlock anymore. What a mess.
Oh, I still think it is one of the most beautiful places in America. River Road! Lumberville! The Delaware River during shad season! The Black Bass hotel!
Of course, New Hope is miserable during tourist season.
I never understood how it fell out of favor with the Broadway “elites.” It’s a fairly short drive from NYC.
Allentown to Philthidelphia is total gridlock anymore. Thank you NJ and NY transplants. You are also voting for the same lib tax and spenders here that forced you to flee your native home. Wonderful.
My alma mater! No Hope for New Hope was our cheer!
That’s Fonthill, built by Henry Mercer, famous tile maker from loooooong ago. Beautiful house!
I remember growing up, although we didn’t talk politics in my house, I think democrats were few and far between. Now they’re everywhere! Shudder.
Murphy will do anything to avoid facing his constituents, it seems. That’s why he was covertly trying to get Lingenfelter on the ballot to split some of the conservative vote and let him win with a minority. Now that that’s failed, it’s going to be hard for him to keep his head down.
It’s also not surprising that he is downplaying his voting record. He claims to be a member of the Blue Dog Caucus, and maybe he is nominally, but he votes with Pelosi 97% of the time.
From what I’m hearing from the Fitzpatrick camp, he’s planning on running a much more aggressive campaign than he did in ‘06. I think he’s taken a lot of what Murphy did during the campaign personally.
You need bucks to live in Bucks, unfortunately. That's why I'm stuck in Montco.
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