Tom Marino, the Republican challenger to Chris Carney in northeastern Pennsylvania’s 10th district, was caught on film by what looks to have been an opposition videographer in a heated exchange with a man off camera.
Marino hollers, “What do you do for a job? What do you do for a job? What kind of welfare are you on?” The off-camera man retorts, “What do you do for a job? What do you do?” Marino responds, “I work for the people.”
Jason Fitzgerald, Tom Marino’s campaign spokesman, put things in context. In speaking with Battle ‘10, Fitzgerald said:
Mr. Marino was responding to a protester who was making derogatory comments regarding Mr. Marino and his family in front of children at a recent campaign rally. People have been following Mr. Marino around on the campaign trail with video cameras for a while now.
Perhaps the man yelling is angry over the direction of the country. While this man made a mistake by doing this in a public setting, Mr. Marino understands his anger. Mr. Marino is angry that under the watch of Obama, Pelosi, and Carney unemployment has hit double digitsand the national debt has doubled.
While it’s clear that the video was missing “important context”, as PA2010.com’s Dan Hirschhorn put it, Fitzgerald’s explanation for Marino’s reaction feels weak.
Any serious campaign will have saboteurs seeking to showcase their opponent in a poor light. That Marino would be caught on film this way — when he apparently knew he was being filmed — seems strange.
Marino faces an uphill battle against a well-funded Chris Carney in the 10th district. As of last month, Carney had nearly $800,000 in the bank, to Marino’s roughly $10,000.
Though polls put Marino up against Carney by a healthy margin, without a big fundraising boost it’s tough to imagine any scenario but Marino being hammered to death during the final weeks of the campaign on television and radio buys.
H/t: Pa2010.com