Senator Specter has launched “Specter for the Cure”, a bold new initiative to reform our governments medical research efforts, cut red tape and unstrangle the hope for accelerated cures. The centerpiece of Specter for the Cure is the Cures Acceleration Network (“CAN”)- a new institution, answering to the President of the United States, the sole mission of which is to turn medical research into disease cures.

The CAN is a project of Specter’s, not any third party charity. Indeed, it has a better chance of passing if Specter remains in the Senate, but this is an odd way of putting that.

Donors are told they’ll get more than the average donor to Specter:

Those who sign up to donate a minimum of $10 each month for ten months, will receive members only information on the Senator’s effort to transform medical research and accelerate cures … Please make a contribution to Specter For The Cure and become a member and receive insider updates.

So is Specter for the Cure really a separate organization that will give its donors special cancer research updates but give the money to the Specter 2010 campaign? It’s really quite strange.

Murtha was explaining why he thought Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, faced a tough fight in that part of the state — though he expected Obama to win Pennsylvania. Later, Murtha inflamed voters even more when he noted that he actually meant to say people in his district were ” redneck” rather than “racist.”

Republicans were quick to jump on his remarks. Sen. John McCain, the GOP presidential nominee, cited Murtha’s remarks at a rally this week in Moon, Pa. McCain mangled his delivery a bit, but still managed to declare that “Western Pennsylvania is the most patriotic, most God-loving, most patriotic part of America.”

I have a particular interest in all this because my hometown is Johnstown, Pa. I wondered how all this was  playing out there. So I tapped one of the smartest Pennsylvanians I know — my older brother, Mike. Here’s his reaction:

The trouble is Murtha’s statement was, in his own way, nuanced, and that
makes it easy to take out of context.  Second, to defend him is to be on the
defensive.

There are rednecks here like there are in Idaho and New Hampshire and
Minnesota (hello, insane congresswoman!) and elsewhere.  Anybody could say
there are a lot of racists in those areas, but things are getting better, and
basically he was making a true statement. That’s why Murtha shouldn’t have said
it; Murtha is a lightning rod for the right-wing nutbags at this point.
But what do I know? I must hate America.

Last time I was home, I drove past the site in downtown Johnstown where Northrop Grumman is building a  facility in a new technology park. Guess who brought that one home.

Despite the enthusiasm over at the National Review for Murtha’s Republican challenger, retired Lt. Col. William Russell, I wonder whether voters really would choose to send Murtha packing for his remarks. Or whether they’ll keep him around to hang on to the high-paying jobs he brings in.

Which, in its way, mirrors some of the conflicts at the center of this year’s presidential campaign.