The National Republican Congressional Committee is making the health care bill a bit issue in the upcoming May 18 special election for the Pennsylvania House seat formerly held by the late Democratic Rep. John Murtha, with a new TV ad attacking Dem nominee and ex-Murtha staffer Mark Critz.
“Americans said ‘no’ to government-run health care. But Congress and liberals like Mark Critz didn’t listen,” the announcer says. The phrasing makes it seem almost as if Critz is already the incumbent, though he was not in Congress for these votes. (Murtha voted for the House health care bill this past November, and there is no reason to think he would have voted otherwise on the final bill in March if he had not passed away in February.)
The district is a swing seat, having voted for John McCain by a margin of less than one point in 2008 — and it was the only district in the country to switch from John Kerry in 2004, who had a 51%-48% margin, to McCain in 2008. One factor that could help Democrats is that the special election will be held on May 18, the same day as the statewide primaries. There are more contested Democratic races than Republican ones that day, and this could potentially boost Democratic turnout for Critz.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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