PA-12 dimensional chess stuff

by Jerome Armstrong, Tue Apr 20, 2010 at 12:14:40 AM EDT

$800K worth apparently to help Critz, from the DCCC.

But, its tough to see how the special election in PA is going to show that the HCR, or Health Insurance reform bill, is vindicated by the Democrat winning, since the Democrat is running away from it:

Critz contrasts an ad put up by Republicans saying that Critz would vote the “liberal agenda” in Congress by saying “That ad’s not true. I opposed the health care bill. And I’m pro-life, and pro-gun. That’s not liberal.”

You can see the commercial here. Its actually a pretty poor ad, with his voice missing and all. I do like the transition though, to it being about jobs (though the outsourcing claim is blah); but I'm not sold that he's making the deal by turning off whatever liberal Democrats there are in PA-12 in the first place.

PPP has a look at the numbers:

Some Democrats may not be thrilled Mark Critz is emphasizing his opposition to the health care bill as he seeks to replace John Murtha in the House, but after polling the district it's hard to see that as anything but necessary for survival. Only 28% of voters in the district express support for it with 59% opposed. Even Democrats there support it by just a 43/39 margin.

Obama's overall approval rating in the district is 33%, with 57% of voters disapproving of him. It's hard to imagine any Democrat winning an open seat this year where the President is that unpopular but it's still a close race. We'll have the full numbers out tomorrow.

Tags: PA-12 (all tags)

Comments

3 Comments

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Winning itself is "vindication" enough for HCR......

If we can win these seats at all, even if HCR is unpopular in these districts, that's all we need to prove.  If an incumbent or other Democratic candidate wins a tough district after voting for or supporting HCR, that's just a bonus.  But proving simply that Democrats can win in spite of its passage is plenty good enough.

The media narrative in politics very much embraces that "history is written by the winners," with "winners" defined most often as individuals and parties who win elections.  Critz winning PA-12 is something we'll celebrate, and Republicans won't.  That he ran from HCR will be something Republicans grumble in their post-election spin, but no one will care.

by DCCyclone 2010-04-20 08:41AM | 0 recs
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So what's he *with* us on?

If he's pro-gun and pro-life (which I can forgive in a conservative district), and also anti-health care reform (which I can't), what's he with us on?

Especially, what's he with us on, so much that he's worth $800K of Dem money?

This is why I've long ago stopped giving to the DCCC and DSCC, and instead give directly to worthwhile candidates through ActBlue.

At what point do you want to lose well, rather than elect someone who'll nominally be a Dem, but vote GOP most of the time?  It's also important to nominate people who won't run from Democratic positions, who will be able to persuade people this year so that we might win a few years down the road.

by RT 2010-04-20 04:29PM | 1 recs
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How to decide...

Has PumaPAC endorsed in this race?  If not, I'm not sure how to vote...

by johnsonlong 2010-04-20 07:11PM | 0 recs

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