10th District recap

When Chris Carney first announced he was running for the 10th Congressional seat held by Don Sherwood no one had heard of Cynthia Ore. At the time the speculation was Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepnak would make the race. I was excited that the Democrats would even field a candidate against a 4 term incumbent that had no serious opposition in the last 2 elections. Since then an incredible series of events has made Chris Carney a Congressman.

I won't rehash it all but the highlights were Skrep taking a pass, the choking incident becoming public, Kathy Scott getting 44% of the vote in the primary and the Republicans throwing good money after bad when they knew it was hopeless. I think it helped the Democrats nationally that the GOP spent money on this race that could have been better spent elsewhere. And give credit to Chris and his staff of smart, young, energetic people for running one of the best political campaigns in the country. Even with the scandal it was still an uphill fight. Hell, the 10th re-elected Joe McDade when he was under indictment.

Just to blow our own horns I have to say the netroots did it's part. Atrios, posters at Kos, Firedog Lake, Americablog and Wonkette brought the race to national attention. Down with Tyranny produced web ads and many raised money for Carney. I'm proud to say the PA bloggers were relentless. And the conservative blogs stayed quiet. We made the national party pay attention and it poured money into the district.

In the end it was the common sense of the people as it always is. The incumbent said one thing and did another. He was a creature of his party and became comfortable in his position while telling us he brings home the bacon. People can smell a phony. They decided to take a chance on a young man who serves his country, educates our kids and listens to their concerns. The race for 2008 has already started. More on that later.