GOP throws weight behind Manion

By GARY WECKSELBLATT
Bucks County Courier Times

In national politics, getting your name on the ballot is one thing. Getting people to vote for you is another. The latter doesn’t happen without support, in terms of both money and manpower.

Tom Manion is apparently getting both from the national Republican Party, giving him at least a fighting chance against incumbent Democrat Patrick Murphy in his challenge for the 8th District congressional seat.

“He has really turned a lot of heads around here,” said Kevin McCarthy, a first-term congressman from California.

Those turning heads have been turning over cash. Through the June 30 reporting period, Manion had raised $664,817, third most among challengers for 19 Pennsylvania congressional seats.

Two years ago, Murphy had raised $961,000 for his race against then-incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick. He ended up raising $2.42 million, compared to Fitzpatrick’s $3 million.

Murphy has already raised $3 million, the largest in the state for a House race.

Republicans claim Manion doesn’t have to raise as much as Murphy, just enough to get his message out. They would not give a number he was targeting.

“We have to tell quite a story in one of the most expensive markets in the country,” said Jerry Morgan, a “general consultant” to Manion with a background in running campaigns.

That story is of a Doylestown Township father who decided to run for office following the death of his son, Travis, a 26-year-old Marine killed in Iraq. Manion, 54, served 11 years of active duty as a Marine and another 19 years in the Marine Reserves, retiring in 2007 as a colonel. He also worked for 20 years as a business executive at Johnson and Johnson.

“It’s a very compelling story,” said John Kline, a three-term congressman from Minnesota, who, like Manion, retired as a Marine colonel.

It’s people like Morgan, McCarthy and Kline who illustrate the attention being paid at the national level to the race between Manion and Murphy, the only Iraq war veteran in Congress.

Morgan is a veteran of congressional campaigns. He helped Don Sherwood defeat Pat Casey in 1998 in what some called the “biggest upset in the country.” McCarthy, though only a freshman, is a founder of GOP Young Guns, a group he said is committed to earning a Republican majority in Congress by supporting hand-selected candidates who “embody the values and principles to fix a broken Washington” and “unite America.”

Then there’s John Boehner, the House minority leader who campaigned for Manion in Bucks last month and developed The Freedom Project, which offers “grassroots tools” to Republicans. Boehner lists the Manion-Murphy contest as one of seven “Featured Key Races” to receive GOP support.

Democrats had a different spin on the race.

“National Republicans can talk all they want, but with less than 50 days until Election Day, they are nowhere to be found,” said Doug Thornell, press secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Their absence speaks volumes about their faith in Tom Manion’s candidacy, particularly when facing Congressman Murphy who has broad support from Democrats and Republicans throughout Bucks County.”

Locally, SEPTA Chairman Pat Deon, who called Manion’s run for office “a noble cause,” has been networking on Manion’s behalf.

“I wouldn’t be putting my name on the line if this guy couldn’t win,” Deon said.