thedrifter
01-14-08, 08:21 PM
Rep. endorses retired Marine for old seat
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jan 14, 2008 18:42:22 EST
WASHINGTON — A former Pennsylvania congressman said Monday he will not seek to win back the seat he lost to Iraq war veteran Patrick Murphy and instead endorses the potential candidacy of a father of a Marine killed last year in Iraq.
Mike Fitzpatrick, a Republican who served one term in Congress before losing the seat in 2006 in a hotly contested election to Murphy, D-Pa., said Thomas Manion “has the focus and experience to demand a successful conclusion to the mission in Iraq.”
Manion is a pharmaceutical executive who recently retired as a colonel in the Marine Reserves. Manion’s son, 1st Lt. Travis L. Manion, 26, of Doylestown, Pa., died April 29 during his second Iraq tour while living with an Iraqi unit he was leading and training.
Manion, a Republican, has invited reporters to his house on Tuesday to discuss his political intentions, but has not said whether he will run.
Murphy was a military lawyer who fought in Iraq with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. He seized on his military record and voters’ discontent with the war to help win the election by about 1,500 votes. In office, he’s been front and center in the Democrats’ fight to bring troops out of Iraq.
The swing district includes a part of Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs.
Before Monday, Fitzpatrick had not publicly ruled out another run. A former Bucks County commissioner with six children, he said not running again will allow him to devote his resources locally and spent more time with his family.
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/2725922.html
Ellie
thedrifter
01-14-08, 08:58 PM
Monday, Jan. 14, 2008
Iraq vet, former Centre. Co. commissioner plan run for House seat
- The Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — An Iraq war veteran and a former county commissioner say they are planning runs for the open congressional seat of retiring Rep. John Peterson in central Pennsylvania.
Bill Cahir spent two tours in Iraq with the Marines. He resigned his job on Monday as Washington correspondent for the Express-Times of Easton to run for the seat as a Democrat. He says he plans to move to Bellefonte, where he was born.
The news of Cahir's plans was first reported by The Patriot-News of Harrisburg.
Republican Chris Exarchos, a former Centre County commissioner, says he has the go-ahead from county Republican party leaders to run.
Exarchos says he's scouting how the rest of the field shakes out before making a formal announcement. He's in the process of forming a campaign committee.
Peterson is retiring at the end of the year.
Centre County businessman Matt Shaner announced last week he was also seeking the GOP nod to succeed Peterson.
Ellie
thedrifter
01-15-08, 07:49 AM
Sgt. Cahir storms the 5th CD
Posted by Brett Lieberman/The Patriot-News January 14, 2008 14:05PM
Categories: Breaking News, Election 2008, Elections, Federal government, John Peterson, U.S. House
State College native and Iraq war veteran Bill Cahir, who was motivated by the Sept. 11 attacks and war on terror to join the Marine Corps reserves at age 34, plans to seek the Democratic nomination for the 5th Congressional District seat being vacated by retiring Republican U.S. Rep. John Peterson.
Cahir, who resigned Monday from his job as Washington correspondent for the Express-Times of Easton, has served two tours in Iraq and has been decorated for his service in combat and was recently honored as the non-commissioned officer of the year by the 4th Civil Affairs Group.
He served in Ramadi and Fallujah from August 2004-March 2005 and again in Fallujah from September 2006-April 2007, when he was the lead turret gunner for a civil affairs team working with Iraqis and engaging tribal sheiks.
"It's a Republican seat, and the odds are long," said Cahir, 39. "But the chance of winning diminishes a bit further if I don't run."
Full disclosure: I'm friends with Bill, who is 19 days my junior. We even had a joint birthday party one year. For the last eight years or so, we've worked in the same office since he joined the Newhouse newspapers/Advance Publications Washington bureau.
Cahir enters the race with strong State College roots - his father, John Cahir, was vice provost and dean of undergraduate education at Penn State from 1993-2002. His mother, Mary Anne Cahir, was the university's chief fund-raiser in the Philadelphia region.
But Cahir hasn't lived in the district since college.
Currently living in Northern Virginia, he plans to return to his birthplace, Bellefonte, to fulfill his dream of running for Congress.
"I have to be candid, I'm moving back to my hometown in the hopes of representing my home district and at the most critical time in our nation's histroy," said Cahir.
"I think as an Iraq veteran, I offer a unique perspective," he said. "As a journalist, I've covered federal education, transportation and health care issues in detail, and I'm opposed to the tolling of I-80. I want to stop the tolling of interstates in Pennsylvania and across the country."
"On a personal note, this is something I'm energized about and I would be honored to be my party's nominee," Cahir added.
He faces a possible primary campaign with Keith Bierly, a former Centre County commissioner and chairman of the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board, and Lock Haven Mayor Richard Vilello Jr.
Matt Shaner, a 28-year-old State College businessman has announced he plans to seek the GO Pnomination. Former Centre County Commissioner Chris Exarchos, who was defeated last year, has announced his plans to run as well.
Besides his military experience, Cahir enters the race with the most knowledge and experience on Capitol Hill of any of the candidates who have announced or who are considering the seat.
Before his career in journalism, which included writing for the Lebanon Daily News, Hanover Evening Sun, York Dispatch and newspapers in New Jersey and New York, Cahir worked as a staff assistant to Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee from 1990 to 1993, and as a staff assistant on health care issues for former U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford, D-Pa., from August 1993 until he left office in January 1995.
He was part of Sen. Edward Kennedy's, D-Mass., labor and economic policy team that helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act and other laws.
He's also steeped in federal education issues including No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Act from three years writing for Education Daily.
The State College Area Senior High School graduate, graduated cum laude from Penn State with English degree in 1990.
As a Marine, Cahir also marched in Ronald Reagan's funeral procession.
Cahir's married to Rene Browne, a business litigation lawyer in Washington, D.C.
Ellie