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Democratic Struggles in the 12th and 18th Districts
Posted 04-02-2002
Petitions have been filed, and the drop-out date has passed for
candidates in this spring's Primary Election. It appears that there isn't
one incumbent legislator in Westmoreland County that has opposition. The
only contested races will be for United States Congress and the Democratic
nomination for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The consequence of Frank
Mascara's decision to run in the 12th Congressional District against
incumbent Jack Murtha is actually being felt both in that race and in the
race for the open seat in the 18th Congressional District.
In the 18th District race,
Democrats now face an extremely difficult task of trying to develop a
candidate that will provide serious opposition for State Senator Tim Murphy.
Frank Mascara's decision put our party in an extremely difficult position.
Frank's idea was that he never ran that good in the Allegheny County portion
of his old district, therefore he was better off running against Jack
Murtha. I think Frank's judgment was flawed because even though Tim Murphy
will be a well-financed and viable candidate, he's still not an incumbent,
and he doesn't have district-wide name recognition. Frank would have had
broad support from Democrats, and he was the only candidate that could have
raised the money to be competitive. Instead, we are having a blood bath in
the 12th District as Frank Mascara takes on a very strong and well-financed
Jack Murtha. Now, instead of having the opportunity to have both Democratic
incumbents in office next year, the best we can do is have one of them.
I'm extremely disappointed
that Frank Mascara would choose this course of action. Clearly, our party
suffers, and we pretty much wave a flag of surrender in the 18th District.
The two candidates running are Washington County Sheriff Larry Maggi and
Westmoreland County's Jack Machek who works for the Norwin School District.
Both men are fine people, but they are facing a huge challenge. Sheriff
Maggi comes from the county with the smallest part of the 18th District.
Washington County has about 100,000 people in the district, Westmoreland
County has 190,000, and the largest part is Allegheny County with 355,000
people. He may be able to raise some money, but it will be difficult to
compete financially with Tim Murphy. Jack Machek ran well (with no money) in
the western Westmoreland County portion of the 4th District last election
against eventual winner Terry Van Horne. But again, without serious
fundraising success, Jack is at a real disadvantage.
The district appears to favor
a Democrat because there are 70,000 more of us than Republicans. But, the
Republicans didn't create this district without studying voter performance,
and there are many swing areas that can go either way. Frank Mascara didn't
want to run in those swing areas, but he still would have had the best
chance to raise the money necessary to win. The guy he chose to run against
can raise a lot of money too. Now Larry Maggi or Jack Machek is left in the
position of trying to raise enough money to win a primary, and then be
competitive in November. If Frank had run, he would have had a free ride in
the primary and would have had widespread support, including help from the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, to hold onto the seat.
As usual, and as we are
seeing in the Governor's race, we brutalize our own much, much more than we
do the Republicans. They wisely clear the field for their most viable
candidates, get united behind those candidates, and then motivate their
workers to handle the grassroots work, while their big money sets up their
media campaign. We carry grudges and battle scars into the General Election,
and unless we put those differences aside, we will not win hotly contested
races in November. |
