Posted: Wednesday, 25 June 2008 11:26AM
Barletta Turns Up The Heat
Steve Corbett Reporting
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The Great Debate debate has begun.
On the Morning News with Nancy and Kevin today, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta called to offer his best challenge yet to Democratic 11th congressional district incumbent U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski.
Republican Barletta wants to unseat the veteran congressman in the November election.
And our challenger played a master stroke when he called for debate.
It’s only June.
And Barletta knows it can be a long, dull summer, particularly when a comfortable lawmaker with more than two decades in Congress under his belt wants to stay away from the heat.
So Barletta turned on all burners and lit a fire right under Kanjorski’s pork butt.
When it’s hot, it’s hot.
Barletta announced that he wants six single issue debates even before the mass public debates he wants in the fall. Better yet, he wants the Super Six to be held on WILK News Radio from morning until night.
The first single issue debate would be held on the Morning News with another debate to follow. Late morning news talk show host Sue Henry would host two more debates. I get two, too.
Barletta’s grand provocation to Kanjorski is perfect.
Kanjorski’s not used to being put in a corner. Lately, though, he’s looking worse than ever.
Two very unflattering videos are now showing on YouTube, the internet theater of despair for many formerly protected politicians. And FOX news recently aired and aired and aired again an expose into Kanjorski’s influence peddling that benefitted members of his family.
More puzzling, though, is Kanjorski’s refusal to respond to my inquiries about those issues. He won’t even say publicly if he’s supporting Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.
Kanjorski’s press secretary has stopped answering my emails.
Obviously I’m rooting for the debates.
Barletta is the underdog who lost to Kanjorski once before. But he only lost by 22,000 votes and that was before he earned the reputation in conservative circles of being a small town mayor fighting what he considers an “invasion” of “illegal aliens.”
Civil rights groups eventually filed a federal lawsuit against a city ordinance introduced by Barletta that targeted undocumented immigrants. Barletta lost and looked bad in the process. But going down in flames did for the “immigration reform” crowd what burning at the stake did for St. Joan of Arc.
Nowadays, good martyrs are hard to find.
But more and more bumper stickers and yard signs are starting to show up in once-loyal Kanjorski country bearing nothing more than three huge letters – LOU.
And now, Lou, who somebody once called “America’s mayor,” is off and running.
Sure he needs all the Republican cash he can carry from Washington. Sure he’s running uphill while Kanjorski rolls downhill. Sure he’s got a good shot at losing.
But he’s hit a good shot at winning, too.
Kanjorski seems worried. He’s sending a small mountain of press releases announcing his participation in everything but sunrise and sunset. But don’t be surprised if you receive a mailer – paid for at taxpayer expense – announcing that he does, indeed, support sunrise and sunset and will be available for a photo opportunity with the sun and the moon.
But don’t expect a letter accepting Barletta’s challenge. If Kanjorski runs from the chance of letting WILK listeners judge for themselves how he handles Barletta, Kanjorski will increase Barletta’s odds of beating him in November. If that happens, Kanjorski has nobody to blame but himself.
A new television commercial began airing recently that shows Kanjorski walking the street in his Nanticoke hometown. He looks shaky, uncomfortable without a necktie, and unsure of himself.
He never forgot where he came from, the ad tells us. That’s true. But when he forgets where he’s going, he’s got trouble. This morning Barletta reminded him that he’s headed into a big public fight called an election.
It’s payback time.
And Kanjorski better realize that he owes us more than we owe him.
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