Steve Pearce, left, and Harry Teague (Photos by Heath Haussamen)
The 2nd Congressional District race between Democratic incumbent Harry Teague and Republican challenger Steve Pearce pits the current, Democrat-controlled Congress against the previous, GOP-controlled Congress.
At least, that’s how NPR breaks things down in a new profile of the race.
That’s because Pearce, who held the seat before Teague, is running on a platform of change from the way things currently are. Teague, meanwhile, is betting voters will continue the mood for change that helped elect him in 2008.
“The independents are basically walking away from the policies of the Obama administration and of Nancy Pelosi,” NPR quoted Pearce as saying. “People are going to say this is not the direction we want the country. We want to see something for jobs; we want to see unemployment decrease; we want to have a sense of comfort about what the future might bring, and right now there’s deep anxiety about the future.”
Pearce said Americans blame President Barack Obama for their current situation “and they’re furious.”
Teague, on the other hand, was quoted by NPR as saying voters will remember how angry they were in 2008, the year the state’s congressional delegation shifted from three Republicans and two Democrats to five Democrats.
“I think a lot of people are going to have a good memory of how things were,” NPR quoted Teague as saying. “We went from losing a half a million (jobs) a month to having a positive increase every month. I think most people are aware of that and will vote accordingly.”
Fascinating profile. Listen to it or read it by clicking here.