The NRA is watching
Mark Critz is leaving nothing to chance.
The Rothenberg Report released its latest House race rankings today and PA-12 is one of four Democratic seats it says are pure toss-ups this fall. Three of the Dems (Critz, Kathy Hochul, Bill Owens) are among the 17 who crossed lines to vote in favor of holding AG Eric Holder in contempt. Critz is a pro-gun Dem who has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association before and was likely aware the NRA was scoring the vote.
The NRA has said it was counting the Holder vote in its congressional scorecard. Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the NRA, said he couldn’t say for sure if the congressmen who voted against holding Holder in contempt would lose all future support.
“Votes have consequences,” he said. “That’s all I can tell you at this point.”
Issues about the death of border patrol agent Brian Terry aside, the Holder vote from a Democratic perspective really was just political theater: charges against the Attorney General would have to be brought by the Justice Dept, which he runs, so it ain't happening.
Critz has also been careful on ACA -- saying yesterday that he disagreed with the Supreme Court's ruling and noting he once voted in favor of a motion to dismantle the individual mandate -- and one gets the impression that his breaks with the Democratic party line are frustrating his GOP opponent Keith Rothfus a little bit. Rothfus put out two statements yesterday, one critical of the court and another critical of Critz in which he said he was "personally offended" by the Democrat's moves:
“It is unbelievable the extent at which Congressman Critz will try to fool the people of Southwestern Pennsylvania, the very people he supposedly represents. In his own words, Congressman Critz “voted every time to support the bill in its current form...” He voted explicitly against repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board and voted to protect Obamacare a total of 19 other times. Politics is one thing, but I am personally offended by Congressman Critz’s blatant and irresponsible attempts at deception. Shame on him.”