PolitickerPA

By Alex Roarty

July 14, 2008

Coal is any western Pennsylvania lawmaker's best friend.

But congressional candidate Melissa Hart says her opponent, U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-McCandless), doesn't vote like it.

"I see him as not a friend of coal," Hart told PolitickerPA.com in an interview last week.

She particularly harped on his decision not to include coal as an alternative energy, and the former congresswoman suggested his reluctance to do so might stem from intra-party pressure.

"I've heard Jason claim we're the Saudi Arabia of Coal, but the left ... has poo pooed coal," Hart said. "And I've seen Jason's voting record sort of bend over to their desires. I am no-holds barred wanting to use coal."

Hart is trying win back the 4th Congressional District seat she lost to Altmire in 2006 in a race expected to be among the most competitive in the state. Altmire defeated her by 4 percentage points, or about 10,000 votes.

She will have to contend with the same anti-GOP movement that helped sweep her out of office, and her opponent is already positioning himself as a centrist candidate. Altmire also has more than $1.5 million in the bank.

But she had a strong second-quarter fund-raising effort, and touting herself as the most coal-friendly candidate, at Altmire's expense, could certainly help her gain support as energy becomes one of the campaign's top issues.

Hart says energy is the "first thing people talk about" when she visits voters door-to-door on the campaign trail.

Altmire has voted in favor of coal a few times, she conceded, but argued his overall record is "all over the map." She said the representative does not have a clear plan for coal.

"There's not a well-thought-out position that Altmire has taken on coal, on energy, on any of this," she said.

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