Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA)-- Mutha-Fracka!

Most Democrats are relieved when Republican gerrymaderers dump tens of thousands of new Democratic voters into their districts to make surrounding districts safer for Republicans. Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), for example, are delighted that they went from GOP-leaning districts to solid Democratic districts. Blue Dog Tim Holden (PA)... not so much. Holden has made a career out of voting with Republicans in a district that gave McCain a 51-48% win over Obama (in a state Obama took 55-44%). In the current Congress, Holden has backed Boehner and Cantor on 65% of the crucial roll calls. And now he finds himself in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, most of which he's never represented... and backed Obama by an astounding 15 points in 2008!

A recent poll of the new district found that among Democrats likely to vote in the April primary, where Holden has to face progressive challenger Matt Cartwright, the single issue voters are pissed off about-- even more than his career of corruption or his anti-Choice zealotry or his support for Republicans-- was his support for fracking. It could lose him his seat. Lee Fang covered Holden's fracking problem yesterday at Republic Report:

Last weekend, Congressman Tim Holden sat down for an interview with the Sam Lesante Show to talk about an array of issues facing voters. Holden, a member of the pro-big business Blue Dog coalition of Democrats, faces a primary challenge from the left in his recently redistricted seat in eastern Pennsylvania.

At one point during the discussion, Lesante brought up the controversial horizontal natural gas drilling method known as fracking. Pennslyvania’s Marcellus Shale formation has lured a number of fracking companies to the state. After heavy lobbying, the legislature recently passed a law that removes the right of state cities to prohibit companies from coming in and drilling, while allowing fracking companies to still refuse to disclose some chemicals used in the process.

Holden, who has said his energy policy is simply “drill everywhere,” moderated his response. He compared the process to coal, and said, “We need to keep an eye on it, make sure that we’re regulating, to make sure we’re not contaminating our wells, our streams.”

One problem: in 2005, Holden voted for the Energy Bill that exempted the fracking process from federal oversight by removing such drilling methods from the Safe Drinking Water Act. The exemption is known as the “Halliburton loophole” because oil and gas interests lobbies heavily to create it. Holden may be calibrating his position on fracking since being redistricted into a more Democratic seat.

Oil and gas interests have donated over $400,000 to Holden over the course of his career.

160 Democrats (and 22 environmentally-concerned Republicans) voted against this loophole... but Holden stood with the Big Oil lobby that's helped finance his miserable career. Now that his pal Heath Shuler has decided to retire and become a lobbyist, Holden becomes the single best opportunity for Democrats to get rid of a treacherous Blue Dog and replace it with a stalwart progressive. If you can, please consider giving Matt Cartwright a hand.