Jason Altmire in 4th District PA

Written by: Joe Talarico on Nov 15, 2006 11:58 AM EST

This upset win was a textbook example of what can happen when multiple groups pull together for change.  I was personally a very small part of this campaign, and the post is entirely from my perspective.  I can only report what I personally witnessed, so my account is far from complete.

It started in summer of 2005, when Jason Altmire decided to challenge Melissa Hart, who had represented a democratic district (50-39% dem. adv.).  Jason, a vice president for governmental affairs at the U.of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and health policy expert,  was an incredible candidate, although not many realized it at the time.  He had experience as a congressional aid, and the help of Jack Murtha, factors that in the end proved vital to his success.  In the summer of 2006, he was polling 15% behind Hart, but had less than 20% name recognition.

In August, Howard Dean came to the district to canvass, and raise funds.  This immediately raised the level of interest in the race, and gave credibility to the campaign.  Soon after, the DCCC realized that this was a winnable race, and contributed.  As the campaign entered the last 3 weeks, DCC started to run ads, and Move-on.org ran a particularly devastating "caught red-handed" ad that was right on the mark.   While these factors were at the forefront, what went unnoticed was an incredible ground game.

Working Families Win targeted swing voters by holding forums, canvassing, and phone-banking.  Western PA DFA showed the Iraq for Sale Movie and had a well-attended Iraq War Forum.  The local labor unions donated money for a non-candidate based GOTV effort.  The county democratic committees phone-banked, and countless individuals donated time and money for canvassing and the GOTV effort.  Individuals financed robo calling efforts through the campaign, and we had the polls well covered from greeters to observers.  In Butler County (where I worked) we were able to exceed democratic registration in votes by 3-6% in every precinct.  I believe other counties performed comparably, but don't have the numbers.

In the end, this was a true grass-roots effort.  The campaign was virtually flawless, and the other groups that independently participated effectively did their small parts to result in a victory that few (except Jason) would have predcted.   When we saw early returns from Butler, we suspected an upset, but after 2000 and 2004 we were too cautious to predict one.  Malicious Hart, who thought she would cruise to a fourth term, didn't know what hit her.

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Location: PA