Carney Upends Democrats in Pennsylvania

Congressional Democrats have spent the past couple of years accusing Pentagon aides of concocting misleading intelligence in the run-up to the war against Iraq.Now one of those Pentagon aides wants to become a congressional Democrat.Following the September 11 attacks, Christopher Carney, along with his friend and fellow Navy reservist, David Wurmser, scoured intelligence reporting on the links between state sponsors of terror and Al Qaeda for a small office in the Pentagon known as the Counterterrorism Evaluation Group. Now Mr. Carney is running for Congress as a Democrat in Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, which is in the Keystone State’s northeast corner.In an election year that promises to feature a lively debate between the parties on national security and the Iraq war, Mr. Carney’s candidacy stands out. He stands by his intelligence work before the war, though he won’t go into detail because much of it is still classified.“Based on the intelligence I saw, there was definitely a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda,” Mr. Carney said in an interview. He said he was “surprised by the surprise” this conclusion prompted. “I mean, Saddam had links to almost every terrorist group in the Middle East. Why would people think he wouldn’t have one with Al Qaeda?” he said.If elected, he could tell that to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean or Senator Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who rarely let a week pass without blistering the Bush administration for leading America to war under false pretenses. Mr. Carney, currently a political science professor at Penn State University, said that if he wins his seat he hopes to “persuade my colleagues.”“They are speaking from a position of imperfect knowledge,” he said. “My opinions are backed up by the intelligence.”Mr. Carney describes himself as something his party has not seen in a long time: a Scoop Jackson Democrat, in the tradition of the late Washington State senator, Henry “Scoop” Jackson, who opposed Richard Nixon on detente with the Soviet Union and was the author of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, making favorable trade status for the Soviet Union contingent on Moscow’s loosening its restrictions on emigration. “I definitely consider myself of the same ilk as Scoop Jackson,” Mr. Carney said. ” I am strong on defense.”Jackson’s office in the 1970s was a home for many who became officials in the Reagan and Bush administrations, including Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle, James Roche, and Douglas Feith. Mr. Perle, who was Mr. Jackson’s national security adviser, said he would support Mr. Carney’s candidacy. “I think he is a very smart, capable guy,” he said. “It is a good thing that people are willing to take a shot at this who have not been politicians all their lives. I hope he makes it. It’s a long shot, but Chris is not the sort of person who tries once.”Mr. Perle said he does not see Mr. Carney’s candidacy in the congressional race as a sign that the Democratic Party will become more hawkish. “I am afraid the Jackson wing of the party is all but obliterated. You see that now in the response of the Democrats on almost everything the president is saying.” Mr. Perle added, “It’s not as if there are several people like Chris emerging this year. There was no real Democratic interest in the seat. The party has not made an investment in the seat. If Chris started to catch on, it would be interesting to see if the party would support him.”For now, Mr. Carney says he has gotten very little support from the national party, other than some training for his political staff. His opponent, Rep. Don Sherwood, a Republican, has benefited from redistricting and no longer must compete for votes in liberal Scranton, Pa. Mr. Sherwood has won his seat since 2002 with more than 90% of the votes. In 2004, the Democrats did not even bother putting up a challenger.“I don’t know whether the national party will walk away from him, but I don’t think the national party will get involved unless he raises enough money in the race,” a Democratic strategist in the region, Ed Mitchell, said. Mr. Carney says his campaign so far has raised a little less than $100,000. Mr. Mitchell said, “He is going to be the candidate. I think they are going to want to see a half million dollars before they invest in the race. This is a widespread district. You have to buy broadcast television to make an impact. To take out an incumbent, you will need more than a couple of weeks in it.”A public affairs professor at Pennsylvania’s Franklin and Marshall College who closely watches his state’s political races, G.Terry Madonna, said that if Mr. Carney were to win the race, it would be “the greatest political upset in ten years.”Mr. Carney, however, is optimistic. “My opponent has less than 50% approval rating in the district,” he said.In November, Mr. Sherwood settled a lawsuit from his former mistress, Cynthia Ore, who accused him of choking her and other kinds of abuse. The settlement has essentially bought Ms. Ore’s silence on the matter, but some observers said the issue would likely come out in the race. Mr. Sherwood had denied choking Ms. Ore, according to press reports, saying he was giving the woman, who is 35 years younger than him, a “back rub.”

Carney Upends Democrats in Pennsylvania

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