In Southern New Jersey, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, an often conservative voting Democratic incumbent, first-term Congressman John Adler, enjoys a nine-point poll lead over Republican challenger Jon Runyan, a former Philadelphia Eagles professional football player.
And in Delaware, the small state about twenty miles south of Philadelphia, a Tea Party insurgency may have sunk GOP chances of winning the US Senate seat once held by U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden when Tea Partier's elected loopy, scandal-mired Christine O'Donnell in Delaware's Republican primary.
Experts see O'Donnell's candidacy also harming the chances of GOP congressional candidate Gary Urquhart succeeding nine-term Delaware Republican Congressman Mike Castle who lost his bid for Biden's Senate seat to O'Donnell.
O'Donnell's double-digit trailing of Democratic candidate Chris Coons in that U.S. Senate race relates in large part to exposure of her public life built on lies and cheating exposures that Tea Party conservatives dismiss as "biased' news reporting.
Evidence documents O'Donnell has lied for years about graduating from Oxford University and Claremont Graduate University. This conservative "values' candidate endorsed by GOP star Sarah Palin has bragged about cheating the IRS which she currently owes $11,700.
O'Donnell's currently the subject of a federal election law violation complaint charging improper use of campaign funds for personal expenses like paying rent on her apartment. She defends paying rent from campaign funds recently telling a Philadelphia TV reporter that her apartment is her campaign headquarters and her staffers "live there" with her.
O'Donnell's recent rise on the political scene is an example of polls not always being accurate predictors. On the eve of O'Donnell's upset victory over Congressman Castle polls had her trailing by over a dozen points. She beat Castle by a six point margin in that Republican primary in Democratic majority Delaware.
Rep Clyburn, with candor uncharacteristic of many Democratic leaders, acknowledges that the dire environment for congressional Democrats is the result of Democrats "not going far enough" to address critical issues like creating jobs and the kind of health care reform sought by a majority of Americans namely public option or Medicare for all.
"We didn't put in enough for jobs and that was a mistake," Clyburn said while noting that conservative Senate Democrats cut jobs from the Stimulus Bill approved by the House to win bi-partisan support for the measure that Senate Republicans ultimately opposed.
"We in the House wanted more jobs but Senators said our trillion dollar bill would look bad. Senator [Arlen] Specter [of Pennsylvania] said even having a $900-billion bill would hurt his chances for reelection. Specter favored the $787-billion bill that cut funding for roads, small business and jobs." (Specter lost his primary race to Democrat Congressman Joe Sestak who is now in a tight race with GOP candidate Pat Toomey.)
President Obama, Clyburn emphasized "has to be more engaged"Obama should have done more on jobs from the beginning""
Clyburn says positive changes are occurring under President Obama from education and health care reforms to stopping the collapse of the "world's economy" but Clyburn says the problem is "things are not changing fast enough."
If the Republicans do gain control of Capitol Hill in November, Rep Clyburn predicts a concerted GOP effort to repeal health care reform, expanded tax cuts for the wealthy and give a free reign to Wall Street where abuses triggered the economic meltdown. Clyburn also foresees expensive, gird-lock-ensuring investigations by Republican controlled committees into the Obama Administration.
"The Republicans have been trying to implode everything President Obama is trying to do. More power for them means less progress for the country."
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