Pennsylvania: Jason Altmire

Of the 19 U.S. representatives from Pennsylvania sworn-in Tuesday in Washington, Kathy Dahlkemper stood out. The Democrat was the only one who defeated an incumbent, former Congressman Phil English, this fall and only one of two new members of the state's delegation.

During an interview Tuesday evening with PolitickerPA.com, she acknowledged that if she wants to survive her freshman term, she must make sure she doesn't stray too far to the left in the moderate 3rd Congressional District.

Republican Melissa Hart's 12-point loss to U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-McCandless) was largely lost amid the flurry of last week's results. The race was one of the state's most closely watched this summer but took a backseat to other congressional and state elections when polls showed the first-term incumbent opening a double-digit lead over the woman he beat in 2006.

Hart had counted on 2008 being more favorable than 2006. But in an interview with PolitickerPA.com recently, she said that clearly wasn't the case.

Melissa Hart's campaign manager, Alicia Collins, knows she has enough money to unseat U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-McCandless) in the 4th Congressional District.

After all, the campaign has about three times as much cash on hand than Altmire's did in 2006, when he defeated the then-incumbent Hart by a few percentage points.

Call it the Republican version of Democrats' constant attempts to link GOP lawmakers to President Bush.

A new ad being aired by Congressional candidate Melissa Hart tries to link U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-McCandless) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while also blaming people's economic troubles on tax increases.

"We spend our nights worrying how we're going to make ends meet, and our days working as hard as we can to only get furter behind," the narrator says.

Hart is mounting a competitive challenge to Altmire in the 4th Congressional District.