California Conservative

My friend Salena Zito has written a great article about Lynn Swann considering running for Pennsylvania’s 4th district House seat currently held by freshman Jason Altmire. If Altmire’s press secretary’s statement in response to this news is indicative, I’d say that Mr. Altmire is already feeling the heat:

Altmire spokeswoman Christina Stacey said the congressman’s focus is elsewhere. “While the Republicans continue to play politics, Rep. Altmire will continue to focus on working hard for the people of the 4th Congressional District,” she said.

What type of statement is that? Republicans are gearing up for the next election. Did Ms. Stacey think that the Republicans wouldn’t be thinking about partisan politics? I’d say that Stacey’s statement sounds a little hypersensitive. Then again, Altmire’s got reason to be a bit sensitive. Ms. Stacey’s boss is a freshman who has less name recognition than Swann. She knows that Swann will raise alot more campaign cash than Mr. Altmire, too.

If Ms. Stacey is that sensitive now, what’s going to happen when the RNC and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania start ratcheting up the pressure? This is one district that I’ll be keeping an eye on come 2008. Whether Republicans choose Melissa Hart or Lynn Swann, this should retake this seat.

Some other seats that I think the GOP will retake are MN-1, where Tim Walz is acting like a big city liberal rather than a stoic southern Minnesotan, TX-22 where Nick Lampson won Tom DeLay’s old seat when Democrats prevailed in a court case that kept Shelley Sekula-Gibbs’ name off the ballot, OH-18 where Bob Ney’s scandal doomed Joy Padgett’s chances. The other seat we should retake is Mark Foley’s seat. The other pivotal Keystone State race that I’ll be keeping an eye on is the seat Joe Sestak currently holds.

Technorati Tags: Jason Altmire, Melissa Hart, Lynn Swann, Nick Lampson, Tom DeLay, Tim Walz, Dick Day, Joe Sestak, Joy Padgett, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Friday, April 13th, 2007 at 11:36 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, DNC, Domestic Policies, Election 2008, RNC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.