PA-08

In 2012, Matt Cartwright waged a strong primary campaign against reactionary Blue Dog Tim Holden (one of the "Democrats" who joined with the GOP to vote against ObamaCare). Hoyer and Pelosi warned that a progressive like Cartwright could not win that red a seat in northeast Pennsylvania. Matt was one of Blue America's top candidates that year and we were in the trenches with him, while Hoyer ran around the district with a pack of lobbyists begging "people" to vote for Holden, a pro-frack-maniac.

How an incompetent DCCC has reshaped the political landscape of PennsylvaniaPennsylvania, one of the most egregiously gerrymandered states in the country, has 18 congressional seats. Even though it's a blue state-- Obama beat McCain 3,192,316 (54.7%) to 2,586,496 (44.3%) and beat Romney 2,907,448 (52.0%) to 2,619,58 (46.8%); Bob Casey beat Tom Smith for the U.S.

Let me save Pennsylvania for the end, since that's the one with Democrats. Georgia and Kentucky are Republican affairs, although who the GOP voters pick in each state may influence the outcome of the November elections-- and the control of the U.S. Senate. We'll start with Georgia's 7 dwarves running for the open red Senate seat that conservative Democrat, Sam Nunn's daughter, thinks she has a chance to win.

I wondered why Steve Israel and his corrupt operatives at the DCCC didn't jump all over the story about Republican crooks Michael Grimm and Aaron Schock illegally trading maxed out donors to circumvent campaign finance regulations.

The most compelling television I came across last night was the above opener to Chris Hayes' show. It's a jaw-dropping look at the "not in my backyard" ethos of our political elites.

In the video above, the relationship between swarms of Oklahoma earthquakes and fracking, seems obvious. Koch brothers-protected fracking is starting to devastate a wide swathe of the middle of the country-- and Republicans are willfully oblivious to the dangers their ideological policy agenda is causing in red states like Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Kansas.

Do these protesters need to show up at Steve Israel's house?The suburbs north of Philadelphia look promising for Democrats this year. First and foremost, Wall Street-owned New Dem Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) is leaving Congress and is likely to be replaced by the state legislature's liberal lion, Montgomery County Senator Daylin Leach.

But not good enough for Kevin Strouse???It wasn't more than a couple weeks ago that people were snickering about Princeton alum Ted Cruz's elitist attacks on students from "lesser" Ivy League schools. GQ broke the story but it got pretty wide play considering how abruptly Cruz shoved himself into the national spotlight with his jihad to shut down the government.

Shaughnessy NaughtonAlthough southeast Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district has a small chunk of northern Montgomery County, it is basically the Bucks County district. Along with the neighboring 7th CD, it is the wealthiest party of Pennsylvania, those two districts being the only two in the state with medium household incomes over $70,000. PA-08 is a genuine swing district with a PVI of R+1.