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Maps: Critz Vs. Obama & Casey

Much of the 12th district congressional race focused on one issue: Barack Obama. Republican challenger Keith Rothfus and outside groups sought to paint Rep. Mark Critz as an Obama stooge, while Critz worked to put distance between himself and the President. He didn’t get far enough.

Rep. Mark Critz lost his re-election bid on Tuesday despite running several points higher than President Obama and Senator Casey there.

Critz lost by 3.6 points to GOP challenger Keith Rothfus, 51.8 percent to 48.2 percent. As the map above shows, he performed well in his Cambria County/Johnstown base, but won Beaver and Lawrence counties by too-narrow margins. He lost Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties by too great a margin.

President Barack Obama did much worse. He lost to Mitt Romney by 17 points, 58.5 percent to 41.5 percent of votes cast for one of the two major party candidates.

Even at the height of his popularity in 2008, Obama lost the new configuration of the 12th district by over 9 points, 54.1 percent to 44.7 percent. The President did far worse in western Pa. this year in general.

Senator Casey, too, saw his re-election numbers drop in the 12th. He bested former Sen. Rick Santorum by nearly 13 points in 2006, 56.4 percent to 43.6 percent.

This cycle, he lost the 12th district to GOP challenger Tom Smith. Smith bested Casey by nearly 8 points, 53.8 percent to 46.1 percent of votes cast for one of the two major party candidates. That’s a swing of 20 points.

Note: these numbers are based on county precinct totals.

7 Responses

  1. This really proves that Grover Norquist successfully bought and sold Northern Westmoreland and Allegheny Counties. It also proves Somerset County voters are morons, because Rothfus will spend so little time there they will assume he is a mythical figure. Its unfortunate this is the way we have to was the demise of PA – 12 with being bought by a businessman who makes the Walton Family look like Mother Theresa.

  2. I don’t expect much productivity out of this seat until we can keep a candidate in there for longer period of time. Critz didn’t have much of a chance to get anything done as a freshman Congressman, and I don’t expect much more from Rothfus. Partisan politics aside, the PA-12th needs to stick with a Congressman for the good of the region. The worst thing that could happen to the district is if the seat continues to change hands. We need to give whoever is in there the opportunity to get some tenure and build strong relationships with other key policy makers on the hill.

    The citizensagainstmarkcritz guy is still a qwack. Give it up buddy.

  3. So the Unions screwed Altmire in the Primary and Rothus wins in the General. I would guess that had Altmire won the primary the seat would have remained a D seat. The Union’s got what they deserved and now they have Rothus. Good Going Jack, how doe it feel to screw yourself.

  4. Southwest PA may be becoming much more Republican but it is also the part of the state with the oldest and fastest declining population. The eastern half of PA is growing and becoming more Democratic. If the Dems control the next re-districting this district should be the first to go.

  5. This Election proves:

    1. The population tilt is center-west with only roughly 72,000 votes from eastern counties., whereas Beaver had 78,000 and Allegheny 126,000 for a total of 204,000 voters. Then, Westmoreland had 43,000, so the odds and result of the general given the selection were self-explanatory and already determined.

    2. Internal polls mean nothing. Critz internal polling was dead wrong.

    3. Critz spends campaign $$$ running ads against president, then shows up at campaign rally for Obama. What a mess, a poorly misguided one.

    4. Rothfus stuck his size 10.5 shoe up critz rear end.

    5. Simple arithmetic will be and should be a factor in future races.

    3. As m

  6. This proves two things: the effectiveness of GOP gerrymandering and huge amounts of anonymous out-of-state superpac cash.

  7. The truth is Critz is just a horrible congressman. He lost this race worse than any of his other races. He wasn’t liked in his old district and would have lost there as well.
    Critz is for unions to get votes and money and for himself. Murtha was no saint but he was much better to his constituets and had more honor than Critz ever will.
    Critz is a D level politician and an F level human being!
    Same goes for Casey, who runs on his name and Obama!
    http://www.citizensagainstmarkcritz.com/

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