Tom Manion, 54, a Marine-turned-pharmaceutical-executive, was sadly dragged into the limelight last year when his son, Marine First Lt. Travis Manion, was killed in action in Iraq. Announcing his candidacy in January, Manion said his son had "given me a wake-up call that my service to this country is not over."
His challenge to Murphy has the makings of a fascinating race in Bucks County, a district that could be a bellwether for moderate swing districts around the country.
"I think it's going to be a tough election," Murphy said in a telephone interview, acknowledging that Republican strategists had targeted his seat. "But I will not be outworked, [and] I have a record that I am very proud of."
Manion already has raised eyebrows with his fund-raising prowess, raking in more than $400,000 in the first quarter of 2008. He also has assembled a team of political operatives who have handled pivotal races elsewhere.
"I have an old saying that money talks, and early money shouts," said Charlie Gerow, a Republican strategist in Harrisburg. The GOP's hopes of a Manion win "are one reason you're seeing the A-team involved with him."
Still, Manion - a Johnson & Johnson executive who recently retired as a Marine Reserve colonel - casts himself as an outsider fed up with what he sees as partisan gridlock in Washington.
"People really feel that Washington is broken," he said in an interview at his Doylestown home. "People see that I'm not a politician, [but] if we want to make a difference we have to step out and be a part of it."
Both candidates say the economy is apt to be in the forefront of voters' minds, yet no issue divides them more starkly than Iraq.
