Retired soldier unable to unseat Murtha

[308Mike]

Linkarooni - Murtha is a fucking disgrace to the Marine uniform!

Retired soldier unable to unseat Murtha

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 5, 2008 1:59:39 EST

PHILADELPHIA — Rep. John Murtha, who scrambled to jump-start his campaign after saying his constituents were racist, held off a surprisingly stiff challenge Tuesday.

With 77 percent of precincts reporting, Murtha had 52 percent of the vote, while Republican William Russell had 48 percent.

In his hometown of Johnstown, supporters chanted “Welcome back Jack.” Murtha said his emphasis on creating jobs is what mattered most to voters.

“You keep sending me back regardless of what I say,” Murtha said.

More of this story..............

[blackeagle603]

Never underestimate the power of incumbency.

This illustrates one of the insidious effects of campaign finance reform. John Lott in Freedomnomics does an excellent job of explaing how restricting campaign finance plays to the power of incumbency.

I don't do his argument justice but one my key takeaways was that the incumbent has a huge name recognition advantage. Any finance restrictions limit the challengers ability to challenge that name recognition. Most often that poses an insurmountable problem.