Pennsylvania: Connie Williams

It's been a tough couple years for the Montgomery County Republican Committee. Registration gains that were already moving in the Democrats' favor accelerated greatly with the excitement over the presidential race. Factions of the party are split, with the two Republican County Commissioners locked in a political feud that has given Democrats more control of local policy, and seats long-held by the GOP seem increasingly in danger.

The race to succeed retiring state Sen. Connie Williams (D-Montgomery) is emerging as a high-stakes, big-money affair, with both candidates turning heads with their robust fundraising hauls and some political insiders seeing a closer-than-expected race developing.

With the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur over, both presidential campaigns are unleashing surrogates today to court Jewish voters in Philadelphia.

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) was scheduled to stump for Republican John McCain at the B'rith Shalom House on Conshohocken Avenue this morning before visiting the Congregation of Shaare Shamayim this afternoon.

With state Sen. Connie Williams (D-Montgomery) set to retire after this year, and legislative business in Harrisburg expected to be limited during a busy campaign season, Williams' 11-year career in the state legislature is all but over.

But that's not slowing her down.

Williams, who has represented the 17th Senatorial District since late 2001 after five years in the state House, is chairing the Democratic State Senate Campaign Committee this year, overseeing the party's efforts to cut into the Republican majority in the upper chamber.