BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE-- JASON ALTMIRE (PA-04), NOT PROGRESSIVE ENOUGH FOR DEMOCRATS AND NOT REACTIONARY ENOUGH FOR REPUBLICANS

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.