BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE-- JASON ALTMIRE (PA-04), NOT PROGRESSIVE ENOUGH FOR DEMOCRATS AND NOT REACTIONARY ENOUGH FOR REPUBLICANS
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To be fair, it's too early-- and there have been too few of the kind of congressional roll calls that separate the wheat from the chaff-- to be able to judge definitively which freshmen have the makings of great progressives-- though Yvette Clarke (NY), Mazie Hirono (HI) and Hank Johnson (GA) haven't made a single voting misstep yet-- and which freshmen are future Joe Liebermen or Jim Marshalls. Aside from the 3 mentioned above, Keith Ellison (MN), Steve Cohen (TN), Betty Sutton (OH), Peter Welch (VT), and David Loebsack (IA), Mike Arcuri (NY), John Sarbanes (MD), Paul Hodes (NH), Chris Murphy (CT), Tim Walz (MN), Kathy Castor (FL), Albio Sires (NJ) Steve Kagen (WI), Joe Sestak (PA), Carol Shea-Porter (NH), Ron Klein (FL), John Yarmuth (KY), Bruce Braley (IA), Phil Hare (IL), Jerry McNerney (CA) and John Hall (NY) have started developing solidly progressive records. Way at the bottom of the heap among freshmen Democrats-- even below Rahm Emanuel's Heath Shuler (NC) and Tim Maloney (FL) is Pennsylvania Congressman Jason Altmire.
That isn't to say Altmire is in a category with freshmen Republicans like Tim Walberg (MI), Kevin McCarthy (CA), Mary Fallin (OK), David Davis (TN), Jim Jordan (OH), Michele "the secret puker" Bachmann (MN) or Doug Lamborn (CO), the members with the 7 most reactionary voting records in the entire House. But if I had to guess now, I'd guess that in years to come, Altmire is going to be giving progressives a lot more anxiety than almost anyone else of the newly elected Democrats-- that is if he's still in Congress in years to come. Right now, I wouldn't bet on it.
Voters want a choice, not a slightly less reactionary Republican-lite Democrat. This makes Altmire one of the most vulnerable of the Democratic freshmen. And the Republicans are starting to circle; they smell blood. This week, abysmally-defeated 2006 Pennsylvania gubernatorial Lynn Swann started testing the waters in preparation for a run against Altmire. Swann only got 40% of the vote against Gov. Ed Rendell. At the same time, Altmire beat incumbent Republican Congresswoman Melissa Hart 52-48%, besting her by around 10,000 votes in a Republican-leaning district just north of Pittsburgh. (Swann did beat Rendell in the 4th CD, taking 52% of the vote there.)
Swann is counting on being remembered in the district as a former star of the Pittsburgh Steelers, rather than as an embarrassing candidate for governor. Of course, Melissa Hart will have to be dealt with before Swann gets a chance at Altmire since she has every intention of trying to re-capture her old seat. Another possible contender is a former Allegheny County councilman Ron Francis.
Today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette paints the race as one that will revolve around Altmire's record, which they claim may be too progressive for the district. He voted for a deadline to remove American troops from Iraq and for he "voted to increase the minimum wage, expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and allow workers to organize unions more easily." The Republicans are trying to paint him as a puppet of Nancy Pelosi and they've already launched a typically Republican smear website against him.
Last year Hart, in a vain attempt to retain her seat, spent double the $1.1 million. Generally Republicans need to spend double or triple what Democrats spend in order to win elections since their stands are always at odds to the interests of ordinary people. Swann and Hart are both capable of raising millions of dollars for the race.
Labels: Jason Altmire, Lynn Swann, Pennsylvania
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 3:42 PM
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4 Comments:
Swann's only hope is that district. He was a disaster on the campaign trail. He was like Casey. He barely campaigned, and lost to Rendell almost as badly as Santorum lost to Casey. We will see if Swann learned anything. I just find it funny that he'd like being part of the House.
Years ago, I met Lynn Swann at O. J. Simpson's house while working on a commercial. My impression of him then, before he was a Hall-of-Fame Steeler -- Nice kid, great hands, no genius.
Haven't changed my mind. The fact that he's a Republican (especially as a black man, although a rich one) only confirms my opinion. Lynn Swann was an amazing athlete. He's a political idiot though.
Franco Harris was a Hall-of-Famer too, but he still sees the world straight. Lynn Swann, like J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, is a black suck-up and sell-out to the Rethuglicans.
A "Republican-leaning district?" Surely you jest. The Democratic registration "edge" in the 4th CD is about 55,000. I've been writing a series of articles on Jason Altmire in Townhall.com, and they'll be appearing in other outlets. They're available on: www.camp2008victory.townhall.com. I'd very much encourage your readers, in the spirit of honest debate, to take a look at them and leave a comment. Or they could e-mail me at: TalkTop65@aol.com. We need to judge ANY policy not by what slogan (e.g., "progressive") we can put on it, but on whether it works. A lot progressives from the 1970s and 1980s would be quite amazed to find that Ronald Reagan is now regarded as one of the country's great Presidents. All the best. (Visit my site.)
steve maloney
4th CD, Ambridge, PA
I am not a big fan of Altmire's stances, but he fits the district fairly well --- socially conservative, kicked in the nuts post-industrial towns such as Ambridge, and then a lot of second belt suburbs and exurbs. He is playing to a lot of Reagan Democrats who have only just started migrating back to the Democratic Party on a consistent basis over the Iraq War and the cram-down. I think we can count on Altmire being pretty decent on economic issues, but horrendous on social liberalism issues with the exception of medical research (his background is medical lobbying for the 800 pound gorilla in SW PA medical care the UPMC system)
I know as a candidate he was pretty damn competent on the fundamentals --- ran a tight campaign, and an active one, and he was willing to put in the hours, the door knocks, and the telephone calls. I think the GOP bench is fairly thin, as people have a strong personal dislike of Melissa Hart, and Frances is an indifferent memory. Swann has to do retail politics to win a Congressional seat and everything I saw in 2006 says he can not do that, or at least he will not do that, plus his wife was absolutely livid at him for running for governor. I think he'll only get involved if the field has been cleared for him and if he thinks Altmire will roll over.
My personal read on Altmire is that if he can get re-elected this time around, he'll be able to entrench and cruise in 2010, and will only have to scramble in 2012 as PA looks to lose at least one seat, which given local population patterns, means SW and W. PA Congressional Districts will have to get a lot bigger... But that really depends on what is going on in Harrisburg cause PA-4 could be made real safe, or a nightmare with only a couple of tweaks.
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