When retired Lt. Col. William Russell decided to run for Congress against John Murtha, a 34-year veteran of the House of Representatives, he didn’t do it because he thought he could win. The third-generation soldier and veteran of the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom says he made the final decision largely because he was appalled at John Murtha’s calls for Iraq withdrawal, and in particular the congressman’s rush to condemn the 15 Marines who made headlines in conjunction with the death of civilians in Haditha, Iraq. Murtha publicly accused them of murdering “innocent civilians in cold blood,” long before the facts were known or court martials were held. Since then, charges against 14 of the Marines have been dropped, and one of the exonerated Marines is suing Murtha for slander.
Murtha’s congressional district in western Pennsylvania has more veterans per capita than any other district in the country. By prematurely condemning the Haditha Marines, Murtha was seen as disrespectful to the huge numbers of veterans he represents. His comments sparked discontent throughout the district.
Still, Murtha is a long-time incumbent who has been shameless about bringing unprecedented levels of federal pork to his district, so Russell’s campaign has been a long uphill slog. But, to paraphrase a famous military man, Murtha had not yet begun to insult his constituents.
On Wednesday, October 15 — three weeks away from Election Day — Murtha sat down for a chat with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He explained that he didn’t think Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would fare well in his district because “there is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area.” Murtha’s remarks were even caught on camera.
Almost immediately afterward, Russell was up with ads pillorying the congressman for the comment. As if that comment weren’t bad enough, Murtha pulled off the neat trick of shooting himself in the foot while it was still in his mouth, by helpfully explaining that he didn’t mean to call his constituents racist. Rather, they are just “really redneck.”
Murtha’s general disregard for his district and his recent comments mean that all of a sudden the dark-horse Republican has a real chance at winning the race. “The Democrats did not poll the race because they thought it was a non-issue, and the Republicans for the same reason. So we’ve done some internal polling,” Russell’s campaign manager, Peg Luksik, told National Review Online. “What we’re finding is that even three weeks ago Mr. Murtha’s support was hovering right around 50 percent, which for a gentleman who has a 63 percent voter-registration edge, that’s a significant softening of the support that he has typically enjoyed.”
And the internal poll Luksik is citing was taken three weeks ago, before Murtha’s insulting comments. According to Luksik, the response to their campaign since then has been overwhelming. “At this point the biggest problem we’re having is keeping up with the demand for everything we can possibly give folks,” she said. “People are now saying ‘who is this Mr. Russell?’ We’re now hearing from Democratic committee people, and folks are saying to us, ‘I have voted for Mr. Murtha my whole life and I’m not voting for him this year.’”
The response has been an odd mix of anger and humor directed at Murtha, who seems to be demonstrably out of touch after 34 years. His district is, as Luksik noted, 63 percent Democratic—but those Democrats skew socially conservative on issues like abortion and political radicalism that dog Obama. “People are feeling incredibly insulted. People who are voting their deeply held convictions with are being equated with racism,” she said.
CONTINUED 1 2 Next >
