Carney won’t endorse just yet

Prior to the Pennsylvania primary, U.S. Rep. Chris Carney said he wouldn’t endorse either Democratic presidential candidate unless one of them won in a landslide.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton earned nearly 70 percent of the Democratic votes in the primary in the 10th Congressional District – considered by many to be a landslide – yet Carney remains silent on his endorsement.

“Not yet,” said Rebecca Gale, Carney’s spokeswoman, when asked if her boss would endorse Clinton. “It’s April; it’s still early. The decision doesn’t have to be made until August.”

The Democratic National Convention will be in Denver on Aug. 25-28. Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama are locked in a battle for the nomination, and superdelegates – like Carney – might hold the deciding votes.

Gale said Carney takes his role and responsibilities as a superdelegate very seriously. She also said that Carney has always voted in the best interests of his constituency. Gale said Carney would not comment on Clinton’s huge victory in the 10th District and whether he would endorse Clinton based on the voters’ wishes.

“He will base his decision on who will be the best leader to move our country forward and do what is best for the district and Pennsylvania,” Gale said. “In the meantime, Congressman Carney feels it’s best to let people vote and the conversation continue.”

The National Republican Campaign Committee is pressing Carney on the endorsement issue. Ken Spain, the NRCC press secretary, Tuesday said Carney should take a stand now that the primary is over.

“After promising Pennsylvania voters that he would take a stand in the presidential contest if one of the Democratic nominees won in a ‘landslide,’ Chris Carney still refuses to speak up,” Spain said. “Carney’s decision not to support Sen. Clinton – who handily carried his district – can only be construed as a de facto endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama. Instead of sitting idly by, Chris Carney should be condemning Sen. Obama for claiming that Pennsylvania voters ‘cling’ to religion and Second Amendment rights because they are ‘bitter.’ ”

Carney is running against Republican Chris Hackett, who defeated Dan Meuser in the primary with 52 percent of the vote. Hackett received 33,760 votes to 30,777 for Meuser. Carney garnered 70,824 as the unopposed Democratic candidate – 6,287 more votes than Hackett and Meuser combined.

Carney, of Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, defeated Don Sherwood in 2006 – the first time a Democrat has held the seat in more than 40 years.

Sherwood held the seat for eight years and U.S. Rep. Joe McDade had it for 36 years. Carney beat Sherwood with 53 percent of the vote in a year that saw Democrats end 12 years of Republican rule in Congress.

His election in the predominantly Republican district was largely a result of Sherwood’s misstep. A woman 35 years his junior sued him in 2005, alleging the married father of three choked her at his Capitol Hill apartment.

Sherwood admitted having an affair with the woman, but denied hurting her. The case was settled out of court for about $500,000.

Carney calls himself a conservative Democrat, and said the charge that he is out of step with conservative voters won’t stick. He has staffed his office with Democrats and Republicans and said he hasn’t been afraid to buck the Democratic leadership, including on the issue of illegal immigration.

Carney, 49, a former Pentagon intelligence analyst and political science professor and a member of the Navy Reserve, has been called the “center of Congress” because he has voted down the middle during his first term.

Carney is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, the 37 conservative and moderate Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

10th Congressional District

Encompasses parts of Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming and Tioga counties and all of Bradford, Montour, Northumberland, Pike, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Union, Wayne and Wyoming counties.