CRITZ LACKED OBAMA'S "APPALACHIAN PROBLEM"

Republicans are in pain because Democrat Mark Critz held John Murtha's seat for the Democrats, despite dismal approval numbers for Obama and the health care law in the district, and despite the fact that the district was the only one in America to flip from Kerry to McCain in 2008.

Somebody else may have already said this, but recall where in America McCain did better in '08 than Bush did in '04. It's the same part of the country where Obama kept getting clobbered by Hillary Clinton in the primaries -- Appalachia. The district in question is at the northeast tip of the Appalachian band where Obama struggled in 2008.

Much of that territory has been trending Republican in presidential elections in recent years, but if Kerry won there in 2004, that means the district (which, after all, has twice as many registered Democrats as registered Republicans) may not have reached the pro-GOP tipping point....

... except under special circumstances. Such as, say, a Democratic decision to put up a nominee with a significant amount of melanin. Y'know, more than Mark Critz has.