Boscola (D) sounded out about seat Toomey's leaving (PA-15)

WASHINGTON | -- Pennsylvania's Democratic House members are encouraging state Sen. Lisa Boscola to run for the open 15th District seat.

Boscola, of Bethlehem, met with the seven members Thursday morning on Capitol Hill.

''I was impressed, and I think the other ones were, too,'' said Rep. John Murtha of Johnstown, the delegation leader heading up recruitment efforts in the state. Murtha said he liked Boscola's drive and reputation as a hard-working campaigner.

''A Democrat certainly has a chance of winning,'' he said. ''She could be a very formidable candidate.''

Boscola didn't make a commitment, saying she wanted to talk it over with her family and supporters before deciding. But she was encouraged by the interest in her candidacy.

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''They told me they needed the seat and would do everything they can to help,'' Boscola said.

Picking up the seat could help Democrats narrow the GOP's 12-seat advantage in the House.

The Lehigh Valley is considered a swing district, although it was recently reconfigured to give a slight advantage to a Republican candidate. The current representative, Republican Rep. Pat Toomey, is running for the Senate.

But Boscola said the party's needs aren't her primary concern.

''If I do it for them, it's not going to work,'' she said. ''If I do it for me, I'll give it my all.''

Republican state Sen. Charlie Dent of Allentown already has started raising money for the race, but might face a primary opponent. Lehigh County Commissioner Joe Pascuzzo has expressed interest in the seat.

Like Dent, Boscola could run without giving up her state Senate seat, which doesn't come up for re-election until 2006.

Before Boscola, Murtha tried to entice state Rep. T.J. Rooney of Bethlehem to run. But Rooney passed to become state Democratic chairman.

Don Cunningham also had been talked about as a candidate. But he resigned as Bethlehem mayor to join Gov. Ed Rendell's administration.

If Boscola doesn't run, Murtha said, there are other potential candidates, including Bethlehem City Councilman J. Michael Schweder.

Schweder, president of AT&T of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Murtha insisted he wasn't worried about not having a candidate yet.

''You can get into a race too early and lose your momentum,'' he said.

"Dent will take this seat."

I hope so, but I'm still upset at the GOP state legistators for dropping the ball during redistricting. They could have made Toomey's, Gerlach's, Gekas's, Weldon's and Greenwood's districts safely Republican, but decided not to in order to try to make Hoeffel's and Kanjorski's districts "competitive." Had they done things right, (i)Gerlach would have won handily in 2002, (ii) Holden would not even have run against Gekas, (iii) the pro-life Dem Borski would have stayed in the race and beaten Hoeffel in the primary, (iv) Greenwood could have very well been defeated in the 2002 Republican primary, and (v) the Toomey, Greenwood and Weldon seats would stay safely in Republican hands even when the incumbents depart. But they got greedy, and now we're going to have to hustle to keep Toomey's seat, have Gerlach win re-election and defeat Tim Holden.

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