Quote of the day: One of our more sensible columnists has the good sense to venture outside the Beltway and listen to what folks are saying

"In 2004, when I talked to voters, there were very passionate Democrats who profoundly wanted a change in direction, but there were also very passionate supporters of President Bush. This year, wherever I go in the district, I meet people across the party spectrum who say, 'I'm going to vote for you this year because we need change.'"
--Democrat Lois Murphy, who is challenging Rep. James Gerlach in Pennsylvania's 6th CD after losing to him narrowly in 2004, to Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne Jr., writing from Quakertown, Pennsylvania, about the congressional campaigns of Lois Murphy and of 33-year-old Iraq war veteran Patrick Murphy against Republican incumbent Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick in the neighboring 8th CD

Dionne writes in part:

The surest sign that Tuesday could be unpleasant for Republicans is the extent to which voters are simultaneously engaged and frustrated, anxious for change and worried about Iraq.

Republicans know this, and they're trying to win by discrediting the alternatives. To watch television in these parts northwest of Philadelphia is to witness the video equivalent of machine guns unloading in the final spasms of a battle.

Broadcasting one ad after another after another, the National Republican Congressional Committee is trying to tar and feather two Democrats named Murphy. Next door to Patrick Murphy's district, Lois Murphy is looking to unseat Republican incumbent Jim Gerlach. With two other Pennsylvania Republicans--Reps. Curt Weldon and Don Sherwood--facing defeat, the GOP is petrified that the Murphys could compound Republican losses.

But the seriousness out here may make this a bad year for junky attack ads. John Dale, the third-generation proprietor of the Spinnerstown Hotel and a registered Republican, says he can't bring himself to vote for Fitzpatrick because of the nature of the Republican campaign. "It's all negative," he said. "Negative, negative, negative."

In this once staunchly Republican area in Bucks County, you meet many frustrated Republicans and learn why the GOP is steadily losing ground in the Philadelphia region. In just one evening, I ran into Matthew Alderfer, a Republican teacher who voted for George Bush in 2000 but can't support his party because of Iraq; Kenneth Ahl, a lawyer who changed parties because of Republican stands on budget deficits and social issues; and Tom Peterson, a teacher who switched his registration to Democratic this year.

And the column concludes:

Patrick Murphy is closing with an advertisement saying that when it comes to Iraq, his opponent and President Bush "have no idea how to fix this mess." He adds: "Now you get to decide if they're getting it right in Iraq and here at home."

If that's the question voters decide to answer on Tuesday, Democrats will have a very good night. Watch carefully: Everything the Republicans do between now and Election Day will be designed to change the question.