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| Voting in Murtha's District -- Opponent is an Iraqi Vet |
| 2008-04-23 |
| David Freddoso from The Corner at National Review Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) will have an opponent this year after all. A judge had kicked retired Lt. Col. William Russell (R), a veteran of both Iraq Wars, off the ballot earlier this year for lack of valid petition signatures. A legal challenge had winnowed him down to just 993, whereas he needed 1,000 signatures. This gave Murtha a shot at an unopposed victory in the fall, as there were no other Republican challengers. Russell did not give up, though. To qualify for the November ballot, he had to get at least 1,000 write-in votes in the district yesterday to qualify for the ballot. His consultants saw this as doable, but still a challenge in a primary where there was really nothing happening on the Republican side — not even a decent local race to attract voters to the polls. Considering that Republican turnout was already going to be low, and only a small percentage of voters ever think to write in a name, you might think they'd be lucky to get just enough to qualify. Well, think again. I'm told that the count now stands at 4,700 write-in votes for Russell, and the largest county in the 12th District hasn't even reported yet — nor have any absentees been counted. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #6 OS, the problem is that even though he may in fact be a traitorous, doddering old scumbag, he brings home the bacon to his district in the form of contracts for contributors. As a result, even if everyone outside of the 12th district hates him, it is only the people in that district who get to vote for or against him. And he can point to all the of our money he brought into the district and ask the people if they want a newby in place instead of him. |
| Posted by: Rambler in California 2008-04-23 23:12 |
| #5 This guy might actually have a chance, given that more and more about Murtha being a dishonest, traitorous, decrepit doddering old scumbag comes out. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-04-23 22:07 |
| #4 Just sent a little his way myself, Barb. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-04-23 21:18 |
| #3 Here's his website. I'm contributing. A pox on the traitorous Murtha. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-04-23 20:28 |
| #2 I gather Murtha is so fearful of running against a Republican opponent, that he got two democrats to change party affiliation to Republican, then told Democrats to vote for them in the open primary, figuring the Democrats would outnumber the Republicans. Once they won the Republican primary, they just dropped out of the race, leaving Murtha to run unopposed. His Lt. Col. Republican opponent had other ideas, however. And while he's not running on the Republican ticket, he is running as a Republican. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-04-23 19:37 |
| #1 Russell will be an excellent choice for campaign donations this year! |
| Posted by: Muggsy Gling 2008-04-23 17:35 |