Roggio video introduces a political newcomer to voters

Hoping to introduce himself to an electorate that knows little about him, Democrat Bob Roggio is releasing a five-minute Internet video that intersperses policy positions with a relatively thorough telling of his life story.

The video (at bottom), titled "Meet Bob Roggio," will be circulated to supporters online starting this evening, but was given to PolitickerPA.com by the campaign this morning. Roggio, a 61-year-old retired executive from Chester County, is running to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach in the 6th Congressional District, which includes parts of Chester, Montgomery and Berks counties.

Framing himself as a more nonpartisan, pragmatic thinker, Roggio said in an interview this morning that his background would make him a good congressman.

"When I look at what I've done with my life, I haven't had an ideology that tells you this is the right answer, this is the wrong answer; I've been out there solving problems," Roggio said.

"I think I have a vision here that will help us and I think it's brought about by my story," he added.

That story makes up much of the video, from his birth in Philadelphia to his marriage to the birth of his three children and his 36 years living in Chester County. He talks about the joy of having grandchildren, and the challenges of helping to take care of his mother after his father died when Mr. Roggio was only 22.

"It was the first time anybody really close to me had died, and it was a very down time for me, it was very traumatic," he says on the video. "It just felt like a lot of things had ended."

From there he goes on to tell the story of his time at the Zenith Products Corporation, which manufactures bathroom organizational products; that his time as a businessman makes him acutely aware of the economic challenges facing the country seems to be a core theme of his campaign.

"The lessons that I learned to be a successful businessman will pay off very well," he said in the interview.

And the video harps on his opposition to the Iraq war and his determination to bring troops home, while also emphasizing his understanding the economic anxiety being felt by many Americans.

But perhaps one of the most important messages is its most subtle: As he opens the video by saying that many Americans feel the country is on the wrong track, a still image flashes across the screen, showing Gerlach standing side-by-side with President Bush. Roggio elaborated on the connection his campaign was trying to make in the interview.

"All the things that George Bush perpetrated upon this country, either Jim Gerlach helped him or didn't speak out against him," he said. "I think it's time to hold him accountable for the failure of the Bush administration."

Mark Campbell, a Gerlach campaign spokesman, said that such charges ignore that Gerlach has often been ranked as one of the most independent representatives in Congress. He said Gerlach had voted against President Bush 55 percent of the time.

"When he thought Bush was right he supported him, and when he throught he was wrong he told him so," Campbell said. "If that's the best Bob Roggio can do, it's going to be a very short campaign for him.

"The constituents of the 6th District know that Jim Gerlach is an honest, hard-working, independent Congressman who represents only the needs of his constituents," he added.

Many analysts have called the race an uphill battle for Roggio. Other than some work he has done for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), Roggio's political experience is limited. And though Gerlach was nearly defeated in his previous two elections, some see him in a much more stable position this time around.

Roggio, meanwhile, is looking down the barrel of a significant fundraising gap, though his campaign is mounting an aggressive fundraising push, and does plan to buy advertising time on TV and radio. He has reason to hope for some help from Democrats outside the region, after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently named him an emerging candidate, though that is one of the Committee's lower-tier rankings.

But he will continue to face obstacles in simply increasing his name recognition. A recent internal Gerlach poll showed Roggio trailing big, though Roggio's campaign plans on releasing its own polling date next week.

"We're going to have a competitive race," Roggio insisted today.