Did Mike Fitpatrick’s Own Party Do Him In?

Let’s take you back to April 2000. Yes, that’s a ways back, but remember: People threw money at Internet businesses without even asking how they would make money, Arlen Specter was a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and John Street was bumbling around as mayor of Philadelphia. Okay, maybe things weren’t all that different, but April 1, 2000 was when the census was taken.

Said census reduced Pennsylvania’s representatives to 19 (down two) and the Republican legislature went around to re-drawing districts. And, naturally, the districts were drawn so the Republicans could pick up some seats. Democratic voters filed a lawsuit; the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the legislature.

The biggest strangely-drawn district is District 6, which the plaintiffs said “looms like a dragon descending on Philadelphia from the west, splitting up towns and communities throughout Montgomery and Berks Counties.” But District 8 was interesting, too: It encompassed all of Bucks County, but also snaked over into two wards in Philadelphia and a few sections of Montgomery County.

Fast forward to yesterday, when Mike Fitzpatrick is running for re-election in the 8th District. Of course, this is how the results ended up (please note: mathematical errors committed by me):

Had the district just been Bucks County, it appears Fitzpatrick would have made his mom even prouder and won the race. But in part due to the state GOP’s redistricting plan… it appears he’ll be headed home after just one term. (PA-08 did have to add population from somewhere — see comments — to keep the districts equal, so whoever was added to Buxco’s district could have swung the election anyway.)

Some would say this is just desserts for the GOP. (Although, really, it’s not Fitzpatrick’s fault; he was a Chair of the Buxco Board of Commissioners — a good one! — at the time.) It is good to see that the state legislature does as good of a job at gerrymandering than it does at passing non-pay raise laws. Thanks, guys.

Electorate Will NOT Stand For Mistress-Choking

Let’s pour a 40 on the corner for U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood, who was comfortably ahead in the polls and looked to cruise to a fifth term until the family-values conservative’s ex-mistress accused him of choking her. He lost yesterday, as the tide of 200 different scandals — 190 of them or so centered on the Republican party — allowed opponent Chris Carney to pull the upset.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that Carney ran ads saying “This incident with Don Sherwood just cuts right at the core values of our district.” (Perhaps Sherwood can run for Congress in Vegas or something.) Sherwood responded by saying he was truly sorry for cheating on his wife with a woman 30 years his junior, but he didn’t smack a bitch.

The best part of this election? Look who’s gone: An alleged mistress choker, an alleged page diddler, a conspiracy theorist whose name rhymes with Bert Geldon, most of the Jack Abramoff-connected people, etc. It’s like we’re purging Congress of jerks! (And replacing them with more cunning jerks.)

Sex scandal costs GOP’s Sherwood [AP/Inquirer]

Yes, I’m Still Awake: U.S. Congress Update

Okay, here we go:

• Fattah 88, Republican With No Chance 9 (Called. And where’s the other two percent?)
• Schwartz 67, Guy From The Apprentice 33 (Called.)
• Sestak 57, Weldon 43 (Called! And called first by me! Ehh. Yeah. I did it because of actual info I had, but I pry coulda done it just on a hunch anyway, so it’s not anything to get excited about. Let’s move on.)
• Lois Murphy 51, Jim Gerlach 49 (essentially a dead heat)
• Patrick Murphy 50, Mike Fitzpatrick 50 (this could come down to a vote or two, seriously

Looks like the House is going to be Democratic anyway. The Senate looks like it’s going to be 50-50, but could still swing to the Democrats.

Now THIS Is A Close Race

Seriously. Sudden death overtime for this one.

Democrats To Control House, It Seems (Really!)

MSNBC has called the house for the Democrats.

CNN sez they need 2 (or 3? it keeps changing!) seats to control the House.

Either way… whoa.

Honestly, it looks like this: You can fuck up a war and you can fuck up a hurricane, but you can’t fuck up both.

Patrick Murphy’s Mom Remains Silent On Issues

One of my favorite campaign mailers this fall was addressed to my mom and I. Apparently, one of my old schools gave my (and my mom’s) information to Mike Fitzpatrick’s camp, who in turn gave it over to his mother.

Yes, my mom and I — not, strangely, my dad, who (unlike me) still lives there — got a letter from Mary Fitzpatrick telling us what a good Catholic boy he was, how he went to Egan and how he loooooooves unborn babies. Okay, Mary doesn’t tell us that, but it’s certainly the real theme of the letter. Yes, Mike Fitzpatrick and Patrick Murphy are both Catholic, but Murphy is pro-choice. Mary even includes a photocopied column from the Bucks County Courier Times telling us how bad a Catholic Patrick Murphy allegedly is.

Here’s the kicker:

[Michael] has been there for me throughout my entire life. I am writing this letter to let him and everyone know I am there for him.

Awwwww. However, I think if I were running for U.S. Congress, my mom would write a nice attack letter herself and not just include a photocopied column from a newspaper attacking my opponent.

Full letter from Ms. Fitz after the jump.

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Adwatch: Liberal Lois Revisited

Last week, Adwatch looked at the Republican ad that focused on Lois Murphy’s breasts. That ad delighted in calling her “Liberal Lois” and announcing that she is going to “raise your taxes,” as all good liberals do.

After the jump, a look at a different “Liberal Lois” ad that continues to emphasize the taxes and the liberalism, but isn’t as concerned about her breasts.

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Adwatch: Patrick Murphy & Giant TV Screens

With the election tomorrow, there is only one more day to make fun of stupid political ads. The upshot is that there’s only one more day to watch them on television, a point I need to remind myself of every five minutes lest I think this is how things are going to be for the rest of the month.

Another upshot is that I have a lot of pre-packaged content this afternoon, leaving me able to nap under my desk while no one is looking. After the jump, the first of several Adwatches today, this one a look at a recent ad for Democratic House candidate Patrick Murphy, an Iraq war vet.

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Adwatch: I Like Joe (For Congress)

Okay, today’s Adwatch wasn’t on TV and isn’t an official campaign ad, but I don’t care. It’s a minute-long ad with a bouncing ball — so you can follow the words! — about how Curt Weldon needs to go, with a little bit of Joe Sestak praise thrown in at the end. And it’s done by former members of the Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Because if there’s one group I want to tell me who to vote for, it’s the Squirrel Nut Zippers. (Perhaps their next hit can be, “If you vote for Bush… D and the A and the M and the N and the A and the T and the I-O-N.” Ho ho!) Follow me after the jump for the ad.

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Leftovers: Philadelphia, Somewhere In The USA

• Behold, the Action News graphic for the Pier 34 murder trial. Yes, we Philadelphians are now too stupid to even know where the hell we are if the TV news doesn’t point it out to us. [6 ABC]

• You can all stop sending me this story about the stolen puppy. First off, I’m sure it’s a fine pup, but it’s not nearly cute enough for me to steal. Second off, I was in a different part of Egg Harbor City that night. [NBC 10]

• Gay Marriage is unlikely in Jersey, as the legislators are likely to simply pass civil union laws instead. Sez an anti-civil union state senator in need of some rephrasing: “If all of a sudden we deemed that a white man that marries a black woman would be denied benefits, that’s equal protection.” [Press of AC]

• Curt Weldon earmarked money to the company whose director bought Terrell Owens’ NFC Championship ring. Heh. [Inquirer]