our congressman got back in.. tg... i must have had over a hundred phone calls from his opponent. i can relate with one comment.
Murphy's ads "drove me absolutely insane."
Jim Gerlach edges out Lois Murphy
With results finally tallied overnight, the incumbent has prevailed by 3,000 votes.
By Nancy Petersen and Jeff Price
Inquirer Staff Writers
Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach and challenger Lois Murphy staged a repeat of their close race in the Sixth Congressional District two years ago, with neither side claiming victory in the hours after midnight.
This morning, however, with all 334 precincts reporting, and 100 percent of the votes tallied, Gerlach has emerged as the victor, with 118,807 votes - 51 percent - to 115,806 for Murphy.
Gerlach appeared to have won in Berks County, and Murphy in Montgomery County. But results from Chester County, a Gerlach stronghold, were slow coming in.
At the Brickside Grille in Lionville, Chester County, a confident Gerlach spoke to supporters about 10 p.m. before heading home, saying he was hopeful the large turnout throughout the district would produce the numbers he needed to hold on to his seat.
"This is the best campaign I've ever been involved in," he said. "We're going to see some great results." He added that he didn't expect to see those results until the "wee hours" of this morning.
"It's sort of like deja vu all over again," Murphy said late last night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in King of Prussia.
About 300 supporters gathered there, cheering each time CNN showed a new vote tally.
Murphy noted that the results from Chester County were not expected to be reported until after midnight. "We're very encouraged by the early returns," she said. "... They're extremely gratifying. They're just simply not final."
Earlier yesterday, librarian Christine Potter, 34, a ticket-splitting independent from West Whiteland, said she had voted for Gerlach because of his record on education and because Murphy's ads "drove me absolutely insane."
Democrat Joe Farley, 50, a baker from West Whiteland, in casting a straight-party ticket said he opposed Gerlach because of his close association with the president.
This election "was a referendum on the Bush administration," he said. "I think the American people have had enough."
Unlike his first campaign for this seat in 2002, when Bush flew in for a massive rally on his behalf, Gerlach took pains this time to assure voters he was an independent voice. He said he had broken with the president on immigration laws and stem-cell research.
Murphy, however, called him a rubber stamp for the Bush administration and said she was the candidate of change. If elected, she pledged to enact the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, negotiate for lower prices for drugs under the Medicare prescription plan, and push strict ethics and lobbying laws.
The district sprawls across parts of Montgomery, Chester, Berks and Lehigh Counties, and both candidates worked it relentlessly.
Murphy strategist Mark Nevins called the campaign's get-out-the-vote coverage unprecedented.
"There wasn't a single precinct that wasn't covered in some way," he said. "We covered the Democratic areas, we covered the swing areas, and we found and identified Democratic voters and Lois Murphy voters in nontraditional areas and we made sure they got to the polls," he said.
As anyone who owns a phone, TV or mailbox can testify, the candidates, their parties and their supporters spent heavily as the charges and countercharges flew. By Election Day, the sheer volume of automatic calls had voters slamming down their phones in exasperation.
According to the Federal Election Commission, as of Oct. 18 Gerlach had raised $3.1 million and spent $2.9 million. Murphy had raised $3.4 million and spent $2.8 million.
On top of those figures, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee each contributed at least $3 million to this contest, according to the FEC.
There was a minor incident early yesterday as Murphy left a polling precinct in Bala Cynwyd with her family. As a film crew was interviewing her, a supporter for Gerlach stepped into camera range, holding a large Gerlach sign behind her.
Objecting, Murphy's husband, lawyer Ben Eisner, slowly forced the sign to the ground with his hand. There was a brief peaceful exchange of words between the two, according to a film clip posted on the CBS3 Web site, www.CBS3.com. John Gentzel, Gerlach's campaign spokesman, called Eisner's action "inappropriate." "The bottom line is you just can't shove people at the polls. This is America," he said.
But Murphy campaign spokeswoman Amy Bonitatibus said that there had been no physical contact between Eisner and the supporter, and that the man had been disruptive. "We would never interrupt Gerlach when he was with his family," she said.
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Contact staff writer Nancy Petersen at 610-701-7602 or npetersen@phillynews.com. Contributing to this article were Inquirer staff writers Bonnie L. Cook, Dan Hardy and Lini S. Kadaba. |
