Dahlkemper Says Victory Within Reach if DNC Funds Arrive

By Alex Roarty Category: HouseTags: Phil English, Kathy Dahlkemper

ALTOONA -- Third Congressional District candidate Kathy Dahlkemper said Friday that she can finally capitalize on northwest Pennsylvania's leftward shift and defeat longtime Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Phil English.

"It's a good situation with ... the anti-establishment and change movement, and a lot of discontent with the administration and Republican Party in general," said Dahlkemper, 50, as she prepared to speak in Altoona to the Federation of Democratic Women's annual convention.

This year is the Democrats' best chance to win since 1996, said Tina Mengine, Dahlkemper's campaign manager.

"Between quality of candidate, registration edge, economy and mood of nation, it's like a perfect storm," said Mengine, who has been involved in Erie-area politics for 15 years.

English, elected in 1994, defeated Democratic challenger Steven Porter by a comfortable 11-point margin in 2006 despite the GOP's heavy loses elsewhere in the state and across the country.

This year, Dahlkemper and Mengine argue, English faces a better candidate. The congressional candidate said her values and ideology are more mainstream than Porter's, who Megine described as "Nader-esque."

Perhaps just as important, Dahlkemper said her campaign is prepared to erase the prodigious fund-raising gap that has separated English and his opponents, although he again has a head-start after all her money was spent during the primary.

Mengine said the campaign must raise money outside of the district to overcome the difference. If so, it received two big boosts this week.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee identified Dahlkemeper as a candidate to watch in its Red to Blue program. And on Thursday, The Rothenberg Political Report identified her as a candidate to "keep an eye on."

Rothenberg wrote: "A likable, articulate, common-sense citizen-politician, Dahlkemper has the tough job of trying to upset veteran English, who co-authored legislation that recently passed the House to extend unemployment benefits. She certainly is the underdog in the race, but English would be wise not to underestimate her appeal."

She said she plans to portray English as little more than a rubber stamp for Bush's devastating economic policies who struggles to bring federal dollars to his district in a Democrat-controlled Congress. She acknowledges his voting record and slanted toward the middle this year, but dismissed it as a "political ploy."

Dahlkemper does not have political experience, and she expects English will use that to his advantage.

"I'm sure that's what he will attack me for, because I have no record for him to attack," she said.