Why Did He Ever Run For A Third Term?

Last November, riding a partially sympathetic wave of votes following the defeat of his anti-illegal-immigration bill, Lou Barletta, small-town mayor and budding GOP media star, ran for a third term as mayor of Hazleton, PA. At the time, he dismissed the thought of running for higher office.

As of 1 PM today, February 7, 2008, it appears that Lou Barletta was lying when he said that. He announced today that he was running for Congress against veteran moderate Democrat Paul Kanjorski. (The local paper has a slightly biased report here, but you may want to save it somewhere - this paper's website doesn't exactly believe in keeping archives.)

This means, pretty much, that his entire 2007, and maybe even much of 2006 when he engaged in a well-meaning but not very well-written piece of legislation called the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, was spent preparing for this day. Not surprisingly, with all of the momentum that he has gained in the past year or so, he has already gotten enough signatures to get on the ballot before the deadline.

It's liable to be a big mistake. While looking for links about Louie's announcement, I came across this blog entry written by a conservative Republican from the area outlining all of the reasons why he shouldn't even bother. I do recommend reading it, but to sum up, Lou Barletta is more likely to get his ass kicked this November than have the keys to the kingdom handed to him, and as a freshman Congressman would never get in any, let alone all of the committees that Kanjorski is an integral part of. Not to mention, the 11th Congressional District that Kanjorski represents is not just the part of Luzerne County that hazleton, PA is a part of, it's all of Luzerne Country plus Lackawanna, Monroe, Carbon, and Columbia Counties, and most of those are Democratic counties not very likely to turn around and let Louie-Louie take over.

Congress would not be the best fit for Lou Barletta if he seeks higher office anyway. He should finish the term he just started first before going on, and then maybe attempt a Gubernatorial run or seek the Lt. Gov. position. But to seek a Congressional seat even if the officer were suited to him, so soon after winning a third term at the job he's supposed to be doing? No way. Either do your real job, Lou, or just quit politics altogether. The last thing Washington needs is yet another attention whore in the Capitol building.