My local Congressman, Charlie Dent, has been rumored to be a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and why not? He'll never be Speaker or in leadership in a far-right Republican Caucus in the House, the Governor's Mansion and one Senate seat are blocked to him by other Republicans, and there is no other higher office to seek. So basically, it's put up or shut up time for him. One has to assume that eventually residents of the Lehigh Valley will become tired of a back-bencher who doesn't pass much substantial legislation, and caucuses with a party they largely don't identify with. Basically, if he doesn't run now, he'll never be on par for influence with say, Senator Toomey. Meet Marc Scaringi (pictured above), the far-right whack job that is currently in the GOP primary against Senator Bob Casey. Even his old boss, Senator Santorum, seems to think it's a long-shot for him to beat Casey. Scaringi says his "opposition to President Obama" inspired him to get in this race. Sure, great idea, run against a fairly popular President in the Senate race. Great idea.
I rarely have any advice for Congressman Dent, because I generally find his representation to be weak. The guy does very little for the Lehigh Valley. Nevertheless, Dent should run for the Senate seat. Yes, he won comfortably in 2010, but he'll never have a whiter, older electorate than he did that year, and now that Democrats are starting to get better candidates to run against him than they used to, that won't end. He has no future of moving up if he doesn't go now. It saves him some hassle later.
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