cross posted (with additional context) from The Lehigh Valley Independent
In a move that is bound to take at least some of Republican Charlie Dent's focus off of his general election opponents, Palmer Township resident Mathew Benol has officially announced a primary challenge for Dent's House seat.
Dent has held the seat since Pat Toomey resigned to challenge Arlen Specter in the Republican primary in 2004. His seat is considered a pick up possibility by the DCCC because the 15th Congressional District went for both Kerry and Obama while electing and then re-electing Dent.
This brings the total candidates in the PA-15 race to four, including incumbent Dent, Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, Independent Jake Towne and Benol.
According to The Express-Times, Benol kicked off his campaign before a gathering of about 30 supporters on Saturday. Benol is a member and former organizer of the Original Tea Party/9/12 of the Lehigh Valley.
On his campaign web site, Benol says that he decided to run "because the congressional race in the 15th district 'looked like another poor choice between a Tax and Spend Big Government Democrat and a Borrow and Spend Big Government Republican.'"
Dent's campaign manager, Shawn Millan, defended Congressman Dent's conservative voting credentials in an email to The Express-Times. Time will tell if Benol develops a following among the Tea Party groups in the Valley. Independent Jake Towne got out ahead of him and is working very hard to gain their support.
In Dent's own internal poll recently, Towne was seen receiving 8% of the vote in the general election, which must be a cause of some concern for Dent. As my co-blogger Jon Geeting points out at the Lehigh Valley Independent on my original diary:
...a significant number of moderate Republicans switched their voter registration to the Democrats in 2008 to vote for Obama in the Democratic primary.
Unless a significant number switch back, the closed primary system in PA ensures that the remaining Republican primary electorate will be much more right wing.
We know that the Tea Party faction is definitely going to turn out in force for the primary. But are moderate Republicans going to be equally enthusiastic about showing up to vote for Dent?