By Matt Snyder
GROVE CITY — Mercer County has become a political hotbed for the last two weeks as seven Republicans vying for the nod to take on U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper in November jockey for footing in the primary.
This week, 3rd District candidates Ed Franz, 48, Conneautville, and Paul Huber, 65, Meadville, visited Grove City to meet and greet the locals.
Whether to announce a campaign or to shake hands with groups of a dozen or fewer, nearly all the Republican candidates have made an appearance in Mercer County, most at least once in the GOP-leaning college town of Grove City.
Huber, who said he has been in the race longer than most of his opponents, presented a meaty jobs address to employees and businessmen at George J. Howe Co., Grove City. He talked about extending tax cuts and tinkering with the tax code to make it friendly to small businesses, among other proposals.
He also addressed concerns over the fact that he’d been a registered Democrat as recently as spring 2009. He said passage of the stimulus bill, on top of the prior bank bailouts, drove him to re-register as a Republican. He added that he has supported many Republican candidates, and described himself as a fiscal and social conservative.
Ed Franz, meanwhile, popped in to Beans on Broad, also in Grove City, on Tuesday and spoke to a crowd of Grove City College professors and local conservatives.
An hourly worker at the General Electric plant in Erie, Franz is also a veteran volunteer campaigner who has worked on a number of campaigns for Republicans.
His concerns, he said, include the high national debt and poor economy. Like Huber, he also recommended extending tax cuts and passing a balanced budget amendment.
In all, nearly every Republican candidate has expressed concern with the national debt and economy, proposing remedies in the conservative vein: tax cuts to spur economic growth and reduced government spending.
Franz linked his campaign back to the political wave that swept Republicans to power in 1994, which was when he started getting involved in politics. He said conservatives were on the right track then, but somewhere along the way “the wheels fell off.”
Huber spoke similarly, blaming the GOP’s losses in 2006 in part on heavy deficits. He said Republicans deserved to lose control of Congress.
Besides Franz and Huber, other candidates who have announced include: Steven M. Fisher, 52, Cochranton, a health insurance salesman; Dr. Tom Trevorrow, an Erie ophthalmologist; Clayton W. Grabb, 47, Butler, a pharmaceutical salesman; Mike Kelly, 61, Butler, a car dealership owner; and Donna Reese, an Erie small businesswoman.
Petitions have not yet been circulated or even returned, and there is also time for more candidates to announce. There could be more or fewer candidates by the time the May ballot is finalized.
The winner of the primary will go on to face Dahlkemper in the fall.
