Lou Barletta

Politico.com has an article that lists the five democrats most likely to lose their seats in November. Paul Kanjorski PA-11, is on the list.

"There is a whole host of factors, but it goes back to former House Speaker Tip O’Neill’s maxim that “all politics is local.” Some local officials believe that Kanjorski hasn’t spent as much time in the district meeting with voters and that a string of easy wins has made him soft. And when he has met with constituents, the encounters haven’t helped him much."

Politico does point one Kanjorski’s one great advantage, his huge edge with cash in the bank compared to Lou Barletta.

Hazleton mayor Lou Barletta, the Republican candidate in the 11th Congressional District, was named Pennsylvania's Mayor of the Year this weekend.

Barletta, who is running a heated race against U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Nanticoke City), was given the award Saturday by the Pennsylvania State Mayors Association, The Associated Press reports.

Because of his high-profile crackdown on illegal immigration as mayor, Barletta has drawn support from conservatives nationwide.

The conservative group Freedom's Watch has unleashed yet another round of robocalls, this one attacking Democrats in Congress for "standing between us and billions of barrels of American oil."

The robocall campaigns are being run in New Hampshire, Arizona, California, Kentucky, New York, Illinois, Florida and Ohio, as well as in Pennsylvania.

With similar scripts, the Pennsylvania calls are targeting U.S. Reps. Jason Altmire (D-McCandless) in the 4th Congressional District, Chris Carney (D-Dimock) in the 10th Congressional District and Paul Kanjorski (D-Nanticoke City) in the 11th Congressional District.

The voice on the call reminds listeners that President Bush recently lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling, and blames its Democratic targets for stopping increases in domestic oil production. It gives listeners a number of times that each target has "sided with Nancy Pelosi and liberals in Congress instead of us" and urges listeners to call the target.

"Tell him to stop standing between the American people and American oil," the call closes.

Congressional candidate Lou BarlettaFor their first television ad of the fall campaign season, House Democrats have chosen Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta as their target, The Associated Press reports.

Barletta is challenging longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Nanticoke City) in an 11th District race that has grown increasingly heated in recent weeks. In the first TV spot by either party, Democrats paint Barletta, who gained national notoriety as a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, as a supporter of President Bush.

Republican Lou Barletta "may be George Bush's friend. But he's no friend of the middle class," says the commercial. The president's image graces the screen for the entire 30-second ad, The AP reports.

After the second fundraising quarter, congressional candidate Lou Barletta still faces a significant uphill fundraising battle to come close to matching well-funded incumbent U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski.

Barletta raised $332,929 in the second quarter, a total overshadowed by the $488,088 raised by Kanjorski.

It was another strong quarter from the long-time incumbent, who has now $2.17 million on hand. That's one of the highest totals of any Pennsylvania incumbent or challenger.

Barletta has $321,865 on hand.

U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Nanticoke) is bringing in a big fundraising gun Tuesday as he attempts to fight off a stiff Republican challenge for his seat.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is hosting a fundraiser this evening for Kanjorski. The event is scheduled to take place at Washington’s Charlie Palmer steakhouse. Ed Mitchell, a Kanjorski spokesman, did not provide any further details on the event.

As of the end of the first quarter, Kanjorski had received $14,000 through Hoyer's personal campaign committee and his leadership fund, AmeriPAC.

Kanjorski is running for a 13th term this fall. He is facing a November rematch with Hazelton Mayor Lou Barletta, an anti-immigration hardliner whom Kanjorski defeated in 2002. On Monday Barletta’s campaign announced that it had raised more than $330,000 since April 2 and has $320,000 in cash on hand. Kanjorski’s campaign has not yet announced its second quarter fundraising totals, though at the end of March it had more than $1.8 million on hand.

An effort from U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorksi (D-Nanticoke) to hold town-hall style conferences over the phone has drawn criticism from challenger Lou Barletta, who says the tele-conferences are purely taxpayer-funded political advertisements.

It is the latest salvo in what has emerged as an aggressive campaign from the Hazelton mayor as he tries to unseat the longtime incumbent.

Kanjorski counters the meetings are simply a good way to garner constituent feedback while saving them gas money.

In what is considered by many one the most important FEC filings, Lou Barletta will show more than $330,000 raised in the second quarter of 2008.  Barletta, who got a late start in his race for congress, has now raised more than $500,000 and will show $320k cash on hand.  The campaign has now received donations from more than 4,000 individuals.