House Minority Leader John Boehner will be making Pennsylvania his home for a few days next week. Boehner is coming for a whirlwind fundraising effort, which will involve five events benefitting six candidates in three days.
So far, Boehner’s schedule is as follows:
Thur., Aug. 12 – Tim Burns and Jim Gerlach. Burns (PA-12) is seeking the Democrat-controlled seat held by John Murtha until his death this year. It is now held by former Murtha aide Mark Critz.
Gerlach (PA-6) is a one-time Republican Gubernatorial hopeful and is back to defending his always-endangered seat in and around the Democrat stronghold of Philadelphia.
Fri., Aug. 13 – Pat Meehan and Mike Fitzpatrick together, and Charlie Dent.
Pat Meehan, running for PA-7 in the southeast against Bryan Lentz, has been working for weeks to emphasize a small business-friendly platform.
Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, is seeking to re-capture his old seat in Bucks County now held by Democrat rising star Patrick Murphy. (Murphy won the late John Murtha’s powerful Appropriations Committee seat in May.)
Charlie Dent, seeking the 15th district, which includes Lehigh Valley and Allentown, boasts endorsements from Pat Toomey and Mitt Romney’s PAC.
Finally, on Sat., Aug. 14 – Tom Marino. Marino is running a hardscrabble campaign against Democrat incumbent Chris Carney in northeastern Pennsylvania’s 10th district. Marino has recently set a $500,000 fundraising goal for the end of summer. (He finished June with just $11,000 in cash on hand.) Boehner will no doubt be of assistance.