Posted on 10/22/2008 11:27:30 PM PDT by smoothsailing
Murtha's hold on House seat slips
By Mike Wereschagin and David M. Brown
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Two veteran warriors battling to represent the 12th Congressional District appear locked in the closest race in the district in years.
Democratic Rep. John Murtha leads retired Army Lt. Col. William Russell by a little more than 4 percentage points, within the Susquehanna Poll's 4.9-point margin of error. The poll of 400 likely voters was conducted for the Tribune-Review on Tuesday, amid uproar over Murtha's statement that some of his constituents are racist.
SNIP
About 54 percent of voters among those polled say it's time for someone else to represent them in Congress. About 35 percent say Murtha deserves to be re-elected.
"The most important variable here is that a decisive majority say it's time for a new person," said Jim Lee, president of Susquehanna Polling and Research. He attributed some of the unhappiness with Murtha to the congressman's recent comments.
It's tough to know how big a factor that is, though, because little attention had been paid to the race, Lee said. Political analysts didn't expect Murtha to be vulnerable.
Murtha's last few challengers didn't come close to toppling him. He won by more than 20 percentage points in 2006 against Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey. He was unopposed in 2004.
This year, according to the poll, it's different.
"This is clearly a winnable race for Russell," Lee said.
Russell's campaign welcomed the poll results.
"In the beginning, we were facing an impossible task. A little later on, we were looking way up the mountain. Now, it looks like the summit is in sight," said Steve Clark, Russell's spokesman.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
“About 54 percent of voters among those polled say it’s time for someone else to represent them in Congress. About 35 percent say Murtha deserves to be re-elected.”
Boy, I would love to see this POS get the boot!
Nothing is gonna make up for the clean sweep that seems likely - but getting rid of Murtha would be a consolation.
Murtha is going down.
clean sweeps are usually republicans punishing their own while barney frank and Pelosi get off scot free
Good to see him being taken down, finally. But man, I wanted Irey to win.
...
We have the “Bradley Effect” and the “Wilder Effect”.... Do we have some kind of “FatAss Effect” that could finish off this creep?
Go Russell!
There are 8 Marines who would agree with you.
“Murtha’s hold on REALITY slips”
Good news from PA.
Karma is a bear.
How much will Murtha’s seat effect Pen’s overall lean dem...can it help John in the race...anyone?
The way I figure it, it’s already helping McCain. The folks in PA are finding out that Murtha’s backing Obama. If I was Obama, I’d tell Murtha to shut up with the support. Obama won’t do it and Murtha won’t shut up anyway.
His Haditha remarks should make everyone boot him out.
But now he even insults his own from racists to rednecks.
VOTE HIM OUT OF OFFICE PENNSYLVANIA!!
I donated to Russell today... and Bachmann in MN
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