The voters of Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district have an important choice to make on Election Day -- will they elect as their representative to the U.S. Congress "do-nothing" Joe Hoeffel or Melissa Brown, the "doctor of distortion?"
The race is heating up and turning nasty, with Democratic incumbent Hoeffel and Republican challenger Brown trading accusations and attacks. Among other epithets, Brown has labeled Hoeffel a "do-nothing" and told him to stop "whining," while Hoeffel has fired back by calling Brown, an eye doctor, a "doctor of distortion."
The race is not close, and Hoeffel is expected to win a third term, but Brown -- a former Penn Nursing professor -- is an extremely aggressive campaigner who has challenged Hoeffel's voting record at every turn.
"I'd have to blame her [for the negative campaigning] to a certain extent, because she's very aggressive and Hoeffel is very defensive," Philadelphia Republican Committee Chairman Vito Canuso said.
But Brown spokesman Matt Archbold said Hoeffel went on the attack after simply being confronted with his record.
"I think anytime you try to take a career away from a career politician, he's going to get nasty," Archbold said. "I think he has complained quite often that we're being a little rough with him, and the fact is, we're just showing him his record."
Hoeffel's campaign, though, accuses Brown of twisting the facts.
"They don't seem to worry too much about the truth, but I think one group of people that does worry about the truth is the voters," Hoeffel spokesman Joe Grace said.
Grace expects a victory on the strength of his candidate's "vision," but also because of the composition of the 13th district.
The district was born out of the controversial Pennsylvania redistricting earlier this year. Hoeffel's district used to lie entirely in Republican-dominated Montgomery County but now includes a significant portion of Northeast Philadelphia, which is heavily Democratic.
The new district's party breakdown "makes it even easier for Hoeffel to win reelection," political analyst Terry Madonna said. "Hoeffel can just ride the wave in the new part of the district."
Hoeffel should also get a boost from gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell, the Democratic former mayor of Philadelphia, who is very popular among Northeast Philadelphia voters, according to political analysts and the Hoeffel campaign.
"Ed Rendell at the top of the ticket is certain to help Democrats all the way down the ticket," Grace said. "We're running very closely with the next governor of Pennsylvania."
While the 13th district congressional seat is not hotly contested, it is more competitive than the other races in Philadelphia. Democratic incumbents Chaka Fattah of the second District and Bob Brady of the first District are safe in their seats, as is eighth District incumbent Jim Greenwood, a Republican.
According to the experts, those three shoe-ins will be joined once again by Hoeffel on Capitol Hill.
"He's running against a well-funded opponent who's articulate and can make a strong case for her position, but the odds are not with her, given that Hoeffel's not made the kind of mistakes that make incumbents vulnerable," Madonna said.
