Posted on 11/13/2006 8:53:17 AM PST by Dems_R_Losers
READING, PA. - The Democratic wave of 2006 didn't wash away U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, but it did moisten the cuffs on his trousers.
On a night when many of his fellow Republicans went down to defeat, Gerlach - an Ellwood City native and 1973 Lincoln High School graduate - held on to his seat in Congress, defeating Democrat Lois Murphy on Tuesday in a rematch of 2004.
Gerlach, R-6, Chester Springs, returns to Congress from Pennsylvania's 6th District, which covers the Philadelphia exurban counties of Berks, Chester, Lehigh and Montgomery.
Because Gerlach defeated Murphy by only two percentage points two years ago, he said his district was seen by national Democratic officials as among the most vulnerable Republican-held seats in Pennsylvania.
"I was a top target," he said.
But even as early returns had Murphy leading on a night when the Democrats won control of Congress, Gerlach said he wasn't worried. During his first two congressional races, Gerlach said the initial results came in from Democratic strongholds of Montgomery and Berks counties.
After those two counties reported, Gerlach trailed Murphy 51 percent to 49-percent, which was expected. But Chester County, where Gerlach lives, had yet to release its vote totals.
"I'm usually down when those two results come in," he said. "Chester County usually puts us over the top."
In this race, Gerlach had one advantage.
While President Bush's low approval ratings - in the high 30 percent range - hurt other Republicans, Gerlach's credentials as a moderate Republican prevented Democrats from linking him too closely to Bush.
During his first two terms in Congress, Gerlach's stances differed from Bush's on some major issues, including support for federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research and opposition to oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Gerlach, who represents one of the fastest-growing regions in Pennsylvania, is among the leading national Republicans on environmental issues, particularly water conservation and green space preservation.
In January, he will return to a Congress controlled by the opposition party for the first time of his tenure in Washington, D.C.
Gerlach said his priorities for his third term are security-related - "economic security, energy security and national security."
The three are not unrelated. National security, in his view, involves not only fighting terrorism overseas and ensuring safety at home, but also reducing the United States' dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
But his immediate focus is of more personal importance.
Tonight, Downingtown West High School's football team opens the PIAA Class AAAA District 1 playoffs against Boyertown. Gerlach's son Robert is a senior starting wingback and defensive back for the Downingtown West Whippets (9-1).
In coach Mike Milano's Wing-T offense, the younger Gerlach has 32 carries for 251 yards and 18 receptions for 364 yards (20.2 yards a catch), and four touchdowns.
In the early 1970s, Jim Gerlach played running back for Ellwood City. "We didn't have 9-1 teams," he said.
Even 35 years later, the congressman can easily rattle off the Wolverines' won-lost records, a cumulative 4-24-2 in 1970-72. So he's taking a little more pride in his son's athletic accomplishments.
And he's looking forward to taking a few hours away from politics. "I'm focusing on being a dad and watching my son."
--Despite facing the same Democrat he faced in 2004, Gerlach was still able to largely define Lois Murphy as too liberal for the district. Fitzpatrick and Weldon never tried to define their opponents as liberals. Gerlach even ran an ad talking about Lois Murphy being supported by "some of the most radical leftwing groups in America," including Moveon.org and the Council for a Livable World. Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy were also hugely supported by these groups, but Weldon and Fitzpatrick never made an issue out of it.
-- Gerlach supported federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Fitzpatrick voted against it. This really hurt Fitzpatrick with more liberal Republicans and it took a huge issue away from Dems in Gerlach's district. I hate to say it, but this issue really hurt a lot of Republicans this year.
--Gerlach finished his campaign with some great positive advertising after hammering Lois Murphy for weeks. He ran a brilliant ad with just him looking into the camera (and he is a very handsome guy) saying Lois Murphy had lied about his record, and askeing the people to vote for him. It came off as sincere and warm. Mike Fitzpatrick never ran a single positive ad and never presented himself to the voters asking for their vote. He is a great guy and very likable, but he never reminded voters why they liked him so much before. His ads were so negative that they turned people off. He also probably gave Patrick Murphy more attention than he should have given his almost nonexistent profile in the district.
--Gerlach did not take the GOP vote in his district for granted, or the Hispanic vote. He had 200 Spanish-speaking volunteers bussed in from Mississippi to go door to door in Reading and other Hispanic neighborhoods. He targeted his key voting groups and turned them out. Fitzpatrick didn't. I am a Republican married woman in Bucks County, who should have been a key target voter for Fitzpatrick, and I never got a single phone call from his campaign. The mailings I got were almost all negative against Murphy.
Weldon, of course, was doomed as soon as the FBI raided his house, but he was running a poor campaign even before that. He never made an issue of Sestak's contributions from the disgraced Sandy Burger and Mary McCarthy, never tried to tie him to Moveon.org and other lefty groups.
Gerlach also got lucky that the Dems tried for a mulligan with Lois Murphy, who is pretty liberal. A conservative Dem would have given him a lot more trouble.
I beg to differ. Gerlach fought off a very strong opposition...Lois Murphy is very popular and it took a very well run campaign to prevent her from winning.
Here's part of your answer...see the comments by Dems_R_Losers
"--Despite facing the same Democrat he faced in 2004, Gerlach was still able to largely define Lois Murphy as too liberal for the district. Fitzpatrick and Weldon never tried to define their opponents as liberals. Gerlach even ran an ad talking about Lois Murphy being supported by "some of the most radical leftwing groups in America," including Moveon.org and the Council for a Livable World. Joe Sestak and Patrick Murphy were also hugely supported by these groups, but Weldon and Fitzpatrick never made an issue out of it."
This IMHO is the #1 reason why the GOP nationally didn't do better. This was a "GIMME" issue that the GOP just left laying on the floor. The Democrat party was an is liberal and extreme on national security, on taxes and on values.
Gerlach even tied moveon.org to their antisemitic and other hatemongering. Good for him.
"-- Gerlach supported federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Fitzpatrick voted against it. This really hurt Fitzpatrick with more liberal Republicans and it took a huge issue away from Dems in Gerlach's district. I hate to say it, but this issue really hurt a lot of Republicans this year"
Er, that's becaues the very *word* "research" is a huge misnomer. Liberals win the debate when they get to define the terms. Pro-life conservatives support stem cell research, both adult stem cell and use of fetal and embryonic cells; what they oppose is 'therapeutic cloning', the specific procedure of slicing up embryos and thereby killing the embryo in order to make stem cells. I guarantee you, if the debate is pro v con on "therapeutic cloning" instead of "research" it would be a different debate.
This is something the pro-life movement will have to correct.
Your good observations are why campaigns matter.
Weldon was probably doomed after that raid, but Fitzpatrick lost in very close race and in such cases you can always point to key things that would have helped.
The GOP Congressional candidates should have been a lot more
'on the ball' in touting their strong records on the economy and GWOT, taking credit for good things they did, and cutting hte liberal Democrats no slack.
I believe you are right on the money with your comments. The Philly suburbs are now infested with liberal Republicans who can be easily tempted to vote for things that "sound good" unless they are confronted directly. Even the "conservative" side of the GOP is less "principled conservatism" than "greedy conservatism"...
An aloof position that doesn't call opponents and the media on their lies is one that's no longer viable. A large segment of the electorate DOES fall for the garbage, and with the left holding the news, education, and entertainment media, the picture won't get better--the candidates have to be the ones to get the word out and trigger the congitive dissonance.
I think President Bush let many candidates down by not making some clear points that disprove the impressions the media tried to get out there. But then again, perhaps the President WANTED this election to be a referendum on him--it did allow him to get Dems who will support his liberal agenda.
She then joined the U.S. Justice Department before serving as associate legal counsel for NARAL Pro-Choice America
Is going to start at a disadvantage in Pennsylvania - even in the Philly burbs. A more conservative Dem and Gerlach would have been in very serious trouble.
This is a key point overall.
Ten of the 50 pro-embro-destruction Republicans lost their races: Weldon, Simmons, Johnson, Sweeney, Bass, Bradley, Kelly, Leach, Shaw, and Foley. I don't think that supporting the creation and destruction of human life for scientific experimentation helped any Republican too much in this election.
Schwarz also lost his primary, and the "NO" vote on Amendment 2 beat Jim Talent by about 25,000 votes. And sayonara to Linc Chafee.
GOP politicians need to know that killing babies won't save them at election time.
unfortunately, i think sestak has this seat for a long time. delaware county may be majority republican in the registration numbers but its been trending democrat every year.
I worked in the Pennsylvania part of the 72 Hour Push. I was in Montgomery County on Germantown Pike. I volunteered for Rick Santorum, but also worked for Jim Gerlach as well. As my time out there went by, I became more and more emotionally invested in Jim's victory. Handing out his materials and making phone calls and personal visits for Jim made me believe he could buck the tide. Like most of us, the first news I heard was that he had lost. I was like a kick in the guts. When I woke and found he had turned it around and then extended his lead I decided he was someone whose campaign could teach others how to win. The last article I read in a small local newspaper told of his having put out 6300 absentee ballots to liberal lois 6000. I thought that was good news and it turned to be. Our GOP GOTV gets out more absentee ballots and we get a bigger percentage of them back. The final numbers showed Jim gained with absentee voters and extended his final lead by another 1000 votes. Thanks for working so hard Jim. It made my efforts worth it.
I worked in the Pennsylvania part of the 72 Hour Push. I was in Montgomery County on Germantown Pike. I volunteered for Rick Santorum, but also worked for Jim Gerlach as well. As my time out there went by, I became more and more emotionally invested in Jim's victory. Handing out his materials and making phone calls and personal visits for Jim made me believe he could buck the tide. Like most of us, the first news I heard was that he had lost. I was like a kick in the guts. When I woke and found he had turned it around and then extended his lead I decided he was someone whose campaign could teach others how to win. The last article I read in a small local newspaper told of his having put out 6300 absentee ballots to liberal lois 6000. I thought that was good news and it turned to be. Our GOP GOTV gets out more absentee ballots and we get a bigger percentage of them back. The final numbers showed Jim gained with absentee voters and extended his final lead by another 1000 votes. Thanks for working so hard Jim. It made my efforts worth it.
Thank you for your hard work!!! Unfortunately, my husband was away that weekend and I was not able to do anything but make some phone calls to help Fitzpatrick. I am soooo disappointed he lost, but I am pretty PO'd that he did because he just ran a terrible campaign against a nobody that he should have beaten handily. I'm going to adopt Jim Gerlach as "my" congressman now.
I hope there are some good candidates in Delco that can run for the seat. I am troubled by the drift of the Philly suburbs away from the Republicans nationally (Weldon's district used to top 60% for Reagan). There should be some in Bucks also.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
People from Murphy's campaign were all over my neighborhood in the weeks leading up to election day, knocking on doors and personally handing out fliers. GOTV and people from Fitzpatrick's campaign were no where to be seen.
There will be a tough rematch in 2008, I am positive of it. Murphy is a one issue candidate (the war) and I hope he over extended himself during the next two years.
Murphy brought in people from outside the district, through Moveon.org and the Philly colleges. Not sure he will get that kind of help next time. I have only been here two years, but I have seen little of the vaunted Bucks County Republican organization. When I went to HQ one day to get a yard sign, the place was a zoo and they had no signs. Fitzpatrick's office was upstairs in an unmarked office. What were they thinking? You should always have your campaign office on a busy street with signs all over it and busy people running around and making phone calls. I knew right then that Mike was in trouble. I offered to help and the kid at the desk had to grab a piece of scratch paper to write my name on. There was no volunteer coordinator, nothing. I did get a call a few days later, but no followup. I got on the email list and maybe got 3 emails the entire campaign. This campaign was really bad. I have to think that a well run campaign can knock off Murphy next time.
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