For GOP, Bad Gets Worse in Northeast

Many of those Southern seats are afterthoughts in elections today because the districts are so solidly Republican. Simmons, who plays up his connections to organized labor, a traditionally Democratic interest, said a similar purge of Northeast Republicans would only exacerbate the polarized Washington environment. "For every one of us [moderates] who loses, the Congress becomes more partisan," he said.

GOP moderates have long felt marginalized by the conservative-dominated House Republican Conference. Late last year, however, Republican leaders realized they needed to soften some of their proposals or risk losing Northeastern seats. They reluctantly added money to the 2006 budget for job training and other programs pushed by the most liberal Republicans in Congress. They held a vote to expand stem cell research, a popular idea among moderates that was vetoed by Bush.

Last month, Republican leaders passed a $2.10 increase to the minimum wage, a powerful political issue in the struggling industrial towns. It was defeated in the Senate because it was linked to a cut in estate taxes.

"Our Republican conference needs to do more to put forward an agenda on health care, education and the environment," Gerlach said. "Those are important issues in the suburbs."

Here in Pennsylvania's 6th District, Democratic candidate Lois Murphy is a case study in how her party is trying to make campaigns about an unpopular Bush and Congress. On Tuesday, she traveled to the banks of Schuylkill River to rail against the "Bush energy bill," which she blamed for high gas costs and a dirtier environment.

Standing on a boat landing at a recent campaign event, she planted her shoe in a gob of melted gum. But she quickly went on to stick Gerlach with something the candidate's internal polls suggest is worse -- alleging the incumbent "has been a reliable vote for the Bush administration . . . and not stood up for the 6th District."

C. Ray Kalbach, 81, lifelong district resident, is receptive to the appeal. "My total commitment is to unelect all incumbents, period," said Kalbach, a self-described independent. He said he is fed up with Gerlach and "words spoken in one manner and actions done in another."

The district is a microcosm of other suburban areas in the region, a mixture of wealthy, GOP-leaning communities in West Chester and middle-income, working-class families in places such as Reading. Like many of the areas surrounding Philadelphia, it has been trending Democratic in recent elections, serving as the political base for Gov. Edward G. Rendell (D), the favorite to win reelection this year. Sen. John F. Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, won the district by three percentage points.

This the second time Gerlach is facing Murphy, a lawyer and mother of two children, and a skilled campaigner. In 2004, Gerlach beat her by about 6,400 votes (51 percent to 49 percent). Both candidates have raised about $2 million, plan to raise at least $1 million more, and are going for the jugular in campaign speeches and television ads.

Murphy's issue conflicts with Gerlach are somewhat amorphous, apparently by design. She would repeal some of Bush's tax cuts, including those for people earning $200,000 or more, but support others. Murphy slams Gerlach for "utterly failing" to stand up to Bush on the Iraq war, but she said her only policy difference is that she would force the president to come up with a "plan for success."

Pressed, she said Democrats "start from maybe worse than a blank slate" when it comes to having a national security plan. "Voters do not feel that they have that definition."

She calls herself a moderate, more a "Rendell Democrat than a Pelosi Democrat" -- drawing a bit of distance from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a liberal.