Their long history of manufacturing has given the area a workforce experienced and skilled at taking ideas and turning them into high quality products. Bennett noted that “there is a well-organized business community in the greater Lehigh Valley that could rally around a Green Jobs initiative if the federal government would provide some support and leadership. I intend to work towards that end. There are good jobs to be had and money to be made while promoting the public good by cleaning-up the environment for our children.”

Bennett connects her opposition to the Iraq War directly to the economic difficulties we are facing today. She stated that “there is a direct link between the Iraq War and healthcare in America.” She cites the wasted money spent on the war and occupation as resources that could have been spent on smaller class-sizes in our public schools and on increased support for Pennsylvania college students struggling with ever rising educational costs.

Sam Bennett can relate to the opportunity costs of the war both intellectually and personally. She and her family are struggling with the enormous costs of putting two daughters through college at the same time while saving for the future college education of her youngest child. Bennett can relate to her constituents’ real life problems and struggles.

On issues like access to the courts for average citizens, Bennett is a real leader. She says that “Republican so-called tort reform is not really tort reform. It is a denial of access to the court system for the little guy.”

Although still currently likely to be outspent by Dent, Sam Bennett has been fairly successful in raising campaign donations. Among all the Pennsylvania Democratic Congressional candidates challenging setting Republicans, she is the top fundraiser (excluding self-financing by one other candidate in western Pennsylvania) and is without a Democratic Primary challenge. Charles Dertinger was outspent in 2006 by some estimates nearly 23 to 1. Dent still only received 53.6 percent of the vote. Dent lost a full 5 percentages points out when it comes to the vote total between his first run in 2004 (58.6%) and his 2006 (53.6%) race. If Bennett can receive any significant funding from outside the 15th Congressional District, she will in my opinion likely defeat Dent.

If I was Republican Congressman Charles Dent, I would be touching up my resume.

Written by Stephen Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com and Editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com http://www.midatlanticlabor.com).

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