In PA Barlettla could use some shoring up, that could complicate efforts to get rid of Holden, who already sits in a GOP-leaning seat.
I live in PA-15, just south of Barletta’s district. PA-15 on the whole hasn’t been hit that hard by the recession. Housing prices have held their value pretty well and unemployment not too bad compared to the state or national average, but PA-11 has been hit pretty hard. That district was no doubt expecting a lot of the hopey-changey stuff that never quite happened for them (or for anyone, actually). Kanjorski took the brunt of the disappointment and anger.
If the housing market stabilizes and the economy starts to turn around a bit, Barletta could benefit. If things stay bad up in PA-11, Barletta will have a tough slog, IMO..
Holden’s district is just to the west of mine and has a large swath of Amish/Mennonite/conservative Christian towns and rural areas in it and if they threw some of those up to Barletta, the majority of PA-17 would be around the city of Harrisburg. Those Rat state employees would give Holden even more of a lock. Harrisburg’s been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and Rendell’s been propping it up.
But if Corbett goes in there swinging an axe, like it’s necessary to do, Holden might be able to play the good guy and benefit.
Barletta won a district drawn for a Democrat, and all of the neighboring and close-by districts need shoring up. I think that the PA-11 should be made *more* Democrat, with Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and its Dem surroundings being combined with Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton through Dem parts of Monroe County. Columbia County, most of Carbon County and Barletta’s home base around Hazleton would be excised from the PA-11 and combined with part of Holden’s CD (and maybe some GOP counties further west) for a district that should favor Barletta, if only because of its GOP advantage.
Barletta won a district drawn for a Democrat, and all of the neighboring and close-by districts need shoring up. I think that the PA-11 should be made *more* Democrat, with Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and its Dem surroundings being combined with Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton through Dem parts of Monroe County. Columbia County, most of Carbon County and Barletta’s home base around Hazleton would be excised from the PA-11 and combined with part of Holden’s CD (and maybe some GOP counties further west) for a district that should favor Barletta, if only because of its GOP advantage.