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Although the late Rep. John Murtha was able to steer tens of millions to build infrastructure and bring military units to the facility, few of the earmarks went into the authority’s operating budget.

Conventional wisdom: it is a fickle, fickle thing. The latest example of the incredible lightness of opinion in today’s media and political climate is the reaction to the results of the race in Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district. Politicians and pundits, right- as well as left-leaning, are taking it as evidence that Republican hopes of retaking the House this November are too optimistic. That may turn out to be the case, but PA-12 is hardly enough evidence to warrant the conclusion. First, let’s place that district in context. Yes, it was one of Obama’s ten worst Appalachian congressional district’s during his...

The spin is in. Here's how the webzine Politico expressed the conventional wisdom about the outcome of the special election for what had been Jack Murtha's seat in Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district: "In the only House race that really mattered to both parties ... Republicans failed spectacularly, losing on a level playing field where, in this favorable environment, they should have run roughshod over the opposition," wrote Jonathan Martin and Charles Mahtesian. If this is widely believed, it may turn out to be a good thing for Republicans that Democrat Mark Critz, a former Murtha aide, defeated Republican Tim Burns...

Arlen Specter (D-Pa.-cum-R-Pa.-cum-D-Pa.), a.k.a. "Snarlin' Arlen," a.k.a. "Specter the Defector," is one of the most unloved people in politics. He is ornery, vain, disloyal and a brazen opportunist. He lacks a discernible ideology, puts his finger to the political winds before casting a vote and in the end does what is good for Arlen Specter. I will miss him. I will miss him because, whatever his faults, he fought the forces of party unity and ideological purity that are pulling the country apart. "Let me tell you," he complained in 2005, before both parties disowned him, "it's heresy -- I...

Republicans who were already planning their Nancy Pelosi retirement galas for November may want to cancel the caterer. The GOP lost the most important election that was held on Tuesday, and if it fails to learn from the experience the party will lose in the autumn too. The GOP lost the one race in which a seat in Congress was up for grabs, the contest to replace the late Jack Murtha in the 12th House district in southwestern Pennsylvania. John McCain had carried the seat with 49% of the vote in 2008, President Obama's approval rating was well below 40%,...

In Pennsylvania’s 12th District, Republican Tim Burns has conceded to Democrat Mark Critz. One reader’s on the ledge: Pa12 is more than a disappointment.  It is a disaster.  You know politics as well as I do (even though I’m probably your senior by at least thirty years).  When there is a political wave the following happens: parties win special elections in normally difficult districts; they win with weak candidates; they win all the close elections. They just win, win, and win.   Burns’s defeat shows, as of now, the Rs will unlikely take the House.  Perhaps they’ll do well; as today’s generic...

WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Bill Steiner had a simple explanation for Tuesday night's result in Pennsylvania's 12th District. "It's Murtha's ghost," said Steiner, about a half-hour after Republican Tim Burns had conceded to Democrat Mark Critz, former aide to the late Rep. John Murtha. "People were afraid to change." Murtha died in February, three weeks after Republican Scott Brown had won the Massachusetts Senate seat held for more than four decades by Ted Kennedy, and the GOP clearly hoped to carry that momentum into the special election to fill the House seat that Murtha had held since the mid-1970s. What happened...

You really need to keep checking our 44 blog for reports on the special election in Pennsylvania's 12th District from Sandya Somashekhar, who's been on the ground with the candidates. (I'm in Washington, monitoring everything in the big four primary states today.) Democrats can really afford only so many anecdotes like this one, of Democrat Mark Critz working the trail. "I don't want to interrupt you, I just wanted to say, 'Hi, I'm running for Congress,' " he told two men in trucker hats and work shirts, who took his hand politely. Both Democrats, one acknowledged later he'd be voting...

175 People Double Voted in One Precinct in PA-12 by Mike Roman The Precinct Judge of Elections at North Union 4 in Fayette County says she mistakenly gave 175 people 2 ballots this morning. She claims she thought the Special Election to fill the vacancy in Congressional District 12 required her to give a seperate ballot for the Primary and the Special Election. As of now, it is unknown the partisan breakdown of the 175 voters. Jack Murtha carried the precinct with 62% in 2008. His death in February caused the vacancy in the district. Developing…

PA-12 close at the finish Raleigh, N.C. – The special election to replace John Murtha looks to be headed for a photo finish, with Republican Tim Burns leading Democrat Mark Critz 48-47 in PPP's final poll of the race. PA-12 provides a clear example of how dimly voters are viewing politicians and parties across the board right now. Hurting Critz's chances is that 55% of voters in the district disapprove of Barack Obama and 63% have an unfavorable opinion of Nancy Pelosi. But national Republicans don't do much better in the district with 60% of voters expressing a negative opinion...

We're going to do a final PA-12 poll over the weekend. There are a lot of reasons, from our last poll of the district, why Republicans should win this race: 1) Barack Obama's approval rating there is just 33% 2) The district has a very low minority population and nonwhite voters have been sticking with the Democratic Party to a much greater extent than white voters over the last year. 3) Only 24% of voters there have a favorable opinion of Nancy Pelosi. 4) Republican voters in the district are more excited about voting than the Democrats. But there's also...

I haven't posted here in ages. This is an opinion piece I wrote today.

My name is Tim Burns and I am NOT a politician. I don't claim to know "how Washington works" because I don't believe that it does. I've never secured wasteful pork barrel spending and I don't spend more than I have. I am a businessman, who is tired of the massive government spending, trillions of dollars of debt and the corruption in Congress.

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- Almost four decades after John Murtha stood at the Rod & Wire Division gate and shook enough hands to loosen his arm, Mark Critz's stayed firmly in its socket, a testament to the possibility the 12th Congressional District could soon be in very different hands. "Mr. Murtha told me once, when they're coming out, shake their hand and let them go, because they want to go home. When they're coming in, they'll want to stop and talk," said Mr. Critz, who was awarded the Democratic nomination to Congress after Mr. Murtha, his boss, died three months ago....

Filling the void in 12th District Observer-Reporter May 10, 2010 The unexpected death in February of U.S. Rep. John Murtha left a void in the U.S. Congress and, more specifically, in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District, that seems unlikely to be filled anytime soon. Murtha not only brought a wealth of expertise on defense issues to the U.S. House of Representatives, but also pulled a bounty of federal projects into his district. Some may have condemned it as pork-barrel spending, but it brought the region a much-needed economic lift as the steel industry withered. Voters in the 12th Congressional District will...

The new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll of the PA-12 special election gives Republican businessman Tim Burns the edge in the race for the House seat formerly held by the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha. The numbers: Burns 46%, with Democratic candidate and former Murtha aide Mark Critz at 40%. The sample of likely voters has a ±4% margin of error. The Democrats have held this seat since 1974, when Murtha picked it up from the Republicans in a special election held in the midst of the Watergate scandals. The special election will be held on May 18. The TPM Poll...

Kos poll: Burns by six By: Josh Kraushaar April 30, 2010 12:59 PM EDT Weighed down in his district by low presidential favorability ratings and a health care law that's unpopular there, Pennsylvania Democrat Mark Critz now trails by six points in next month's special election for the seat of the late Rep. John Murtha, according to a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll released Friday. Critz, who served on Murtha's staff before the congressman's death, takes 40 percent of the vote in the poll compared with 46 percent for Republican businessman Tim Burns. The poll shows President Barack Obama's favorability number...

Five candidates, two elections, one forum April 28, 2010 Dan Hirschhorn WESTMONT—Three Democrats and two Republicans competing for the chance to succeed the late John Murtha shared a stage Wednesday evening, during a lightning-round style forum that divided the candidates along predictable ideological lines but also briefly prefaced the bitter debate to come between Republican Tim Burns and Democrat Mark Critz. The forum, held in a high school auditorium in this borough on the outskirts of Johnstown, featured not only Burns and Critz—the two candidates set to face off in the May 18 special election—but also three others competing for...

In a year when Americans are desperate for job growth and frustrated with the reckless spending in Washington, the candidates running in the special election in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District epitomize the problem and the solution. It’s a race between a career Washington bureaucrat and a small business entrepreneur. Born and raised in Pennsylvania’s beautiful 12th district, Tim Burns’ story is like that of millions of successful small business owners across the country. He started a pharmaceutical technology company out of the basement of his house and grew it to over 400 employees. He worked hard and gave back generously...

Many of the defense contractors that benefited from the late Rep. John Murtha's power to dole out Pentagon contracts are lining up to help elect his top aide to the seat. Defense contractors, local business officers and lobbyists that relied on earmarked federal contracts from Murtha (D-Pa.) recently chipped in $142,400 to elect Mark Critz, an analysis by The Washington Post shows. Those donations made up more than 52 percent of the individual contributions that Critz raised in the first-quarter of 2010 as he seeks to replace his late boss, new campaign records reveal. Critz is a friendly face to...