Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Too Many Murphys

There is one sitting Pennsylvania congressman named Murphy (Tim, GOP, PA-17). There are three Pennsylvania congressional candidates named Murphy: Patrick Murphy (D, PA-08), Lois Murphy (D, PA-06) and John Murphy (G, PA-16). To make matters worse, all three of these districts touch or are near each other. Adding more confusion, a Democratic candidate for PA-16 is named Lois Herr. I hope the state's political reporters are keeping careful notes because it will be very easy to slip up. Both Patrick Murphy and Lois Murphy are raising good money and running hard races. It is likely that the state will end up with at least two, possibly three Congressional representatives named Murphy next January. I wonder what the record is for a state with the most federal elected officials with the same surname? Surely someone in a research center somewhere keeps track of that sort of thing.

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