For a couple weeks I've been both awaiting and slightly dreading the Philadelphia Inquirer's endorsement in the Sixth District of Pennsylvania, my home district. I've been supporting (and occasionally working on the campaign of) Lois Murphy, the Democrat in my district. However, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the largest newspaper in the Philly area, endorsed Gerlach over Dan Wofford in 2002 and, given newspapers' tendencies to endorse incumbents in local races, I was expecting the Inquirer to do the same in 2004.
When I got to the Inquirer editorial page today, however, I was pleasantly suprised to read their editorial on the election, headlined "6th Congressional District: Murphy would be a 'deficit hawk'".
The article attacked Gerlach's record in Washington.
In attacking the federal deficit, Murphy strikes directly at the most glaring weakness of Gerlach. This former state legislator, who was a very effective moderate in Harrisburg, has lost his way in Washington. He walked lock-step behind House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in approving tax cuts for the rich when the nation could least afford them.
Gerlach is so attached to the DeLay agenda that he couldn't name at least one tax cut that he would not extend so the federal deficit might be reduced. In contrast, Murphy says she would definitely roll back the Bush tax cut for people who make $200,000 or more.
I had to wonder how the Inquirer thought that Gerlach wouldn't march in lockstep with the Republican leadership in the House - his 2002 campaign (in which he received very public support from Dick Cheney) didn't exactly suggest that.
However, the Inquirer seems to have corrected its previous error. The article closed:
Gerlach earned this newspaper's endorsement when he ran in 2002, but he has fallen short of high expectations by too often conforming with the hard-right leadership in the House. Also on the ballot is Green Party candidate Dorothy Schieber, who is campaigning for a universal health care plan. The Inquirer endorses LOIS MURPHY for election in the Sixth District.
I don't know how much difference the Inquirer's endorsement will make in this race. However, only a small swing in the vote is needed to elect Murphy this year - Gerlach won with only 51.4% in 2002 and the DCCC is making a much more noticeable attempt to win the seat this year than in 2002 (like actually running TV ads). We'll see in ten days....