Republicans Waiting on Fitzpatrick Decision

September 3rd, 2007, posted by Stanley

By the end of August 2005, four Democrats — Patrick Murphy, Paul Lang, Andy Warren and Ginny Schrader — officially had entered the race against then-freshman Bucks County Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick.

Murphy eventually unseated Fitzpatrick 14 months later. But eight months into his freshman term in Congress, Murphy has no formal opponents lining up to try to unseat him in 2008.

Republican Party officials say they’re considering a few candidates, including Dave Denoon, a college professor from Buckingham, state Rep. Scott Petri, R-178, and Thomas Manion, the Doylestown Township father of Marine 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion, who was killed in Iraq in late April.

However, party officials also said all Republican hopefuls are waiting to see if Fitzpatrick wants a rematch with Murphy. Murphy beat Fitzpatrick by 1,521 votes in one of the closest races in the country.

“We’re hoping Mike is going to run, but right now we’re not really sure,” said Harry Fawkes, chairman of the Bucks County Republican Committee.

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Word is...

On September 3rd, 2007 phillydem said:

The word from BucksCo is that boss Fawkes is pushing Fitzpatrick hard to run again.

pd

Again

On September 3rd, 2007 Anonymous (not verified) said:

It will be nice to see Fitzpatrick lose again. Rubber stampers like him put us where we are in Iraq and in the country. It will be nice to see Murphy beat him again.

Agreed...I don't think Murphy's in Trouble

On September 3rd, 2007 Stanley said:

I don’t think Murphy will have too many problems getting re-elected. Fitzpatrick can’t decide because it doesn’t make any sense for him to run!

Republicans Waiting on Fitzpatrick Decision

On September 3rd, 2007 Joe (not verified) said:

It would be nice to stop cluttering up the November elections with next years congressional and presidential races. Afterall, it’s these local races that cost us the real money and impact our daily lives the most.

Fitzpatrick

On September 3rd, 2007 looking_italian said:

If he’s still thinking about it, why did he shut down his fundraising committee?

It's Fawkes

On September 3rd, 2007 phillydem said:

From what I gather, Fawkes is the one pushing Fitzpatrick to make another go. My sense is Fitzpatrick might not want to do it, but Fawkes is putting the arm on him.

pd

Fitz or no Fitz?

On September 4th, 2007 thegentlemanfro... said:

For a guy who lost by only a thousand votes and some change, one would think that if he intends to run again, he would’ve jumped back into the political ring by now. Granted, it’s still early, but Murphy has raised substantial amounts of money already. I don’t know if Fitz has much left on hand, but he’ll need to at least match most of Murphy’s cash (despite his name recognition). He could wait until the last minute, employing the element of surprise, but something tells me he bows out. That would be a shame because he would probably give Murphy the most trouble next year. I don’t know much about Manion or Petri, but with or without Fitzpatrick the 8th is probably the most competitive of the southeastern seats. Murphy’s re-election is by no means a lock for Dems.

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