GoErie.com - Mike Kelly: Butler Native Has His Eye on Dahlkemper's Seat in Congress

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By Ken Flowers

But there are two reasons why his party's nominee for Congress, incumbent U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, won't get Worsley's vote in the Nov. 2 election.

One is that Worsley, a 62-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran, is fed up with Washington politics.

"I'm of the opinion that the incumbents need to go wholesale," Worsley said as he munched on a chili dog lunch one recent afternoon at American Legion Post 117 in Butler.

But there is a more personal reason why Worsley will not support Dahlkemper, of Erie -- Worsley and his wife, Paula, graduated from Butler High School in 1966 with the Republican nominee, Mike Kelly.

Referring to Kelly as "a pretty stand-up guy," Al Worsley said he thinks Kelly would represent Butler and the 3rd Congressional District well as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

"I think he'll be better for this area than a candidate from Erie, to be honest," Worsley said.

"In this area, (unemployment) is a problem. Real estate is very soft,'' Worsley said. "We know Mike pretty well ... being a local candidate, he'll be more in tune with what Butler needs."

Name recognition certainly isn't a problem for Kelly, 62, in this city of 15,000 located about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh.

He's a former Butler High School football star who earned a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, playing for legendary coach Ara Parseghian.

After graduation, Kelly returned to his hometown and eventually took control of Kelly Chevrolet-Cadillac Inc., the automobile dealership his father started in 1953.

Kelly has served terms on Butler City Council and the Butler School Board, and in 1999 was elected to the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame, in large part for his involvement in coaching and supporting youth sports in the Butler area.

"I watched Mike work on City Council, and I was impressed by his seriousness and dedication," said Butler's Rick Hardman, 64, a senior designer for an engineering firm and himself a former Democratic candidate for that city's council.

"I plan on voting for Mike," Hardman said, "because I liked what I saw."

Kelly, in a recent interview at his downtown Butler campaign headquarters, said his message to voters is straightforward -- the federal government must start living within its means.

"We've got to start running the government like we run our business," Kelly said. "And the idea that you can't, to me, makes no sense at all."

3rd District 'a target'

The Dahlkemper-Kelly race is drawing nationwide attention in these midterm elections, widely seen by many political watchers as a referendum on President Barack Obama and his polices and programs, including health-care reform and efforts to stimulate the nation's economy.

Obama -- who wants Democrats to hold on to their majority on Capitol Hill -- is urging Democrats nationwide to get out and vote.

Republicans, by contrast, see the 3rd District seat as a key pickup opportunity, said Robert Speel, a political-science professor at Penn State Behrend. The district includes Erie County, most of Crawford County and parts of Armstrong, Butler, Mercer, Warren and Venango counties.

"Since the Civil War, with only three exceptions, the party of the president has lost seats in the midterm elections," Speel said.

Even though Dahlkemper defeated longtime Republican incumbent Phil English to win the 3rd District seat in 2008, the GOP's presidential candidate, John McCain, "won this district by 17 votes. ... That immediately made it a target in 2010 for national Republican and conservative groups," Speel said.

A Franklin & Marshall College poll released Sept. 22 shows Kelly holding a slight lead over Dahlkemper among registered voters in the district, 42 percent to 38 percent, with about 20 percent still undecided.

The poll also reported that Kelly leads every county in the district, except for Erie.

Dahlkemper's campaign manager, Tina Mengine, said the congresswoman remains confident, and that the poll results are "not at all consistent with what we're seeing and hearing in the field. Our information is telling us that we're in very good shape."

Despite those poll numbers, Kelly believes he faces a tough task in trying to unseat Dahlkemper, who is vying for her second two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives and has more than $1 million in her campaign coffers, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

"I think it's going to be very close," Kelly said. "My feeling is, I'll feel good on Nov. 3 if we've got one more vote than Mrs. Dahlkemper."

No politician from outside Erie County has represented the congressional district in nearly three decades.

Kelly wants to become the first since former Mercer County solicitor Marc Lincoln Marks, a Republican who served three terms in Congress between 1976 and 1982 representing what was known then as the 24th Congressional District.

Since Marks' tenure, Republicans Tom Ridge and Phil English, as well as Dahlkemper, all hailed from Erie -- the district's largest city and media center.

Kelly, however, thinks that campaigning almost nonstop throughout the district since he announced his candidacy in late January helped build name recognition and is a key reason why he emerged from a crowded primary field in May, defeating six other GOP candidates.

Kelly -- who has contributed $415,000 to his own campaign, FEC filings show -- was buoyed in the primary by television advertising stressing his opposition to government bailouts and health-care reform, as well as a desire to bring a businessman's perspective to Washington politics.

"Just to get through the primary to get to the general election, you had to start to brand yourself and people would get to know the name," Kelly said. "When they see you in their neighborhoods, ... I think it just gives you credibility."

Speel said that decades ago, when Pennsylvania had as many as 10 more congressional districts than it does now, it was more difficult for a candidate from outside Erie to win the seat.

Now, "a larger portion of the district is the outer Pittsburgh suburbs," Speel said. "And a larger portion of the district, in general, is outside of Erie. And some of those counties, like Butler, are growing in population.

"I think that's one of the major reasons why it might be easier now for (a candidate) from outside of Erie County," Speel said.

Josh Snyder, Kelly's campaign manager, agrees.

Snyder said the issues voters are concerned about -- government spending, unemployment, the economy, health care -- resonate throughout the district.

When weighing the candidates, Snyder said, "people are more concerned about solutions to our problems than they are where you park your car at night."

Building momentum

The National Republican Congressional Committee has taken notice, moving Kelly into its "Young Guns" program in late August.

The program is designed to identify GOP candidates with the best chance of claiming House seats in November.

The NRCC is also paying for pro-Kelly television ads that attack Dahlkemper's voting record, pointing out that she has voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, 93 percent of the time.

NRCC spokesman Tory Mazzola said Kelly's plan to lower taxes is resonating with 3rd District voters.

"As Kathy Dahlkemper tries to spin her record with false TV ads paid for with special interest money, Mike Kelly's talking to voters about his plans to lower taxes, stop reckless spending and create jobs," Mazzola said in August. "He's generating momentum."

Kelly might have a hometown edge in Butler, but Dahlkemper still has her supporters there.

Take Brandon Smith, a 36-year-old student at Butler Beauty School. Smith said he'll be voting for Dahlkemper on Nov. 2, because he likes the job she's done in Washington.

"I shook hands with (Dahlkemper) at the Butler Farm Show," said Smith, who hopes to open his own shop. "Her willingness to get out and (meet) with people, I know that's important in the race. Being that I'm a Democrat, I tend to go with my party."

But David and Rose Wilson, who live in nearby Parker, want to see a Kelly victory on Nov. 2.

Both are working toward making that happen, by handing out brochures, knocking on doors and working the phones as Kelly campaign volunteers.

"He's got to get in there. We need him," said David Wilson, a retired electrician and construction manager who attended Butler High with Kelly.

Rose Wilson, 62, said that, like Kelly, she opposes the Obama administration's new health-care reform law.

"Mike says if he gets in, he'll vote to repeal it, which I'm in favor of," said Rose Wilson, a retired Washington, D.C., court reporter.

Snyder, the campaign manager, said that since Kelly can't match Dahlkemper's fundraising, "getting Mike in front of as many people as possible is the key to his success. We'll have enough resources to be competitive, but this race will ultimately be won or lost on the ground."

Kelly said he understands many voters are skeptical and hesitant to trust these days when it comes to Congress.

He also accepts that some people might be wary of his campaign.

But Kelly said that in his line of work, he cannot afford to break promises -- and he wants to bring that same mind-set to Congress.

"You better know what you're talking about, and you better live up to what you say," Kelly said. "Because if you don't, (customers) don't come back. ... You can't be in my business for 57 years unless you've taken care of people the right way."

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