It’s generally agreed that the political climate for Republicans will be toxic this year, so it’s not surprising that there are painfully few Democrats who seem to face uphill climbs for re-election. It looks there may be one, however, Pennsylvania’s Paul Kanjorski, who’s being challenged again by Hazleton mayor Lou Barletta:
Kanjorski has made the news several times already this cycle. He’s gained plenty of unwanted attention for admitting at a town hall meeting that the Democrats overpromised on their ability to end the war in Iraq. He’s also had to answer questions about steering earmarks to family members. And we’ve previously covered his plan to ‘dust off’ the New Deal and give it to voters again once Democrats regain the White House. Kanjorski has far more cash on hand than his challenger. However, Barletta has high name recognition and as Reid Wilson notes, HIllary Clinton gained 75 percent of the vote in Kanjorski’s district in the recent primary. While the approval ratings for Republicans are awfully low, those for Congress are worse. That means there ought to be opportunities for challengers of both parties to take down long-entrenched incumbents who are symbolic of what’s wrong with Washington. Can the GOP find more Paul Kanjorskis?
