Hide your children – Congressional races are coming

Sometimes as a reporter, a great lead falls into your lap.

Like in 1994, when I was reporting on a former TV reporter named Harvey Clark who wanted to run for Congress, so he bought a new condo in his target district – almost.

He had the whole 1st  Congressional District to shoot for, and he somehow missed, buying a joint on the wrong side of Broad St., just outside the district.

He lost. Probably would have, no matter where he lived.

I thought of Harvey when I saw that suburban U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach is whacking his Democratic rival Manan Trivedi, for living outside the district.

Trivedi’s case is different from Clark’s. Trivedi lived in the 6th Congressional district when he ran against Gerlach two years ago, and still lives in the same place.

What happened in the meantime is the Republican-controlled legislature re-districted Trivedi out of the 6th – not necessarily for that reason, but to that effect.

So Gerlach’s campaign is hammering Trivedi for not living in the district, Angela Vertucci of PoliticsPa reports.

But this banter will seem tame in a month, when the guns really start blazing in the Congressional races.

At least two of the Philadelphia suburban districts will be seen as competitive, which means that national party committees and others will weigh in with millions of dollars in advertising that that will make any fair and decent person want to wretch.

When Democrat Lois Murphy ran against Gerlach in 2004, ads tried to link her to the Taliban.