Christopher P. Carney

Why He Matters

Carney was typical of the House candidates who led Democrats to win control of Congress in 2006. A Naval Reserve officer who served during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he campaigned as a centrist against a Republican incumbent and espoused conservative views on such issues as gun rights, abortion and illegal immigration.

But Carney might not have won his first election had his opponent, incumbent Rep. Don Sherwood (R-Pa.), not admitted to an extramarital affair and been accused of assaulting his mistress. Carney had his own vulnerabilities in that race, chiefly his role advising the Pentagon during the run-up to the Iraq war, during which he asserted a link between al-Qaeda and Iraq.

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