PA Congressmen in the News (Again)

Two recent items in the political news that concern or mention our congressional representation.

First up, Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post had a blog post on Rudy Guiliani's congressional endorsements. The two most recent are out own Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-06) and Rep. Phil English.

But then we glanced at all of Giuliani's congressional endorsers (which are listed at the end of this post) and noticed an interesting trend -- all but two of the 20 are from states won by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004 and four hold districts that Kerry won.

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Those numbers mean that an endorsement of Giuliani's presidential campaign may well be an attempt at self-preservation for each of these members. President Bush is decidedly unpopular in most of these areas and the sooner a GOP Member can wrap their arms around someone other than the current chief executive the better -- from an electoral perspective. Giuliani is the best bet for members sitting in swing districts -- especially in the Northeast and California -- due to his moderate/liberal issue positions on abortion, gay rights and gun control.

Meanwhile over at CQPolitics ("With Eyes on Maintaining Majority, Democrats Put Freshmen in Spotlight," By Kathleen Hunter):

As House Democrats prepare for a floor fight over government-subsidized children’s health insurance, they are spotlighting the role of freshman Jason Altmire.

The career hospital association executive has been working behind the scenes with his leadership on legislation that would expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). When the bill (HR 3162) goes to the floor Wednesday, the newcomer hasecured floor time to help make a case for its passage.

Altmire, who upset three-term Republican incumbent Melissa A. Hart, is one of the freshmen that Democratic leaders have identified as rising stars among the 42 who helped the party gain control of the House last fall.

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Military veterans Patrick J. Murphy of Pennsylvania and Tim Walz of Minnesota have been standard-bearers on Iraq policy. In February and again in March, Pelosi shared the stage with the two freshmen during press conferences highlighting Democratic victories.

Interesting