If Mike Fitzpatrick is feeling squeezed lately, it’s not hard to understand why.

The former congressman, looking to regain the position he lost nearly four years ago, is taking heat from both the left and the right.

Bucks County Democrats, seeing him as the frontrunner among four Republicans vying for the party’s primary nod on May 18, have run negative ads online that describe him as a “career politician” and call him out for “flip-flops.”

In the meantime, Gloria Carlineo, a GOP competitor for the 8th District nomination, has taken to calling him “FitzFlop,” for reversing his view on two flammable issues – card check, where workers could form unions without a private vote, and Cap and Trade, which forces a limit on gas emissions.

Friday, following a forum on WBCB radio, Carlineo sent out a press release ripping Fitzpatrick for calling her a “recent immigrant” to this country.

In the e-mail, Carlineo, who grew up in Puerto Rico and moved to Florida with her mother about 25 years ago, said she was “flabbergasted” by the comment.

“As a Puerto Rican and proud U.S. citizen, I am astounded that given the debate about illegal immigration going on across this country, my opponent would choose to describe me in such an inflammatory manner.”

On Monday, Kyle Whatley, a spokesman for Fitzpatrick’s campaign, said Fitzpatrick has run a positive campaign, and as the “acknowledged frontrunner + it is to be expected that he would be attacked by his opponents.”

Charlie Gerow, a GOP political strategist and CEO of Quantum Communications, said the attacks coming Fitzpatrick’s way are pretty typical in situations where “the opposing team wants to define the apparent primary winner and he’s also under attack by the (GOP) competition.

“The fact that Democrats want to jump on him now clearly shows he’ll win the primary.”

Neil Samuels, deputy chairman of the Bucks County Democratic Committee, said Fitzpatrick, by virtue of more than $570,000 in campaign contributions in just more than three months “is clearly the darling of the establishment Republican Party. The other three (candidates, Carlineo, Ira Hoffman and James Jones) look like they’re going to be cannibalizing votes.”

Read more in the Courier Times

Tags: Mike Fitzpatrick, Mike Fitzpatrick for Congress, Patrick Murphy, Patrick Murphy for Congress

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 11:37 am and is filed under Front Page Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.