Leftists Spin 'Huge' Victory for Mark Critz in PA-12

There's some attention this morning on the Tim Burns loss in PA-12.

Steve Benen, hoping to play down this year's anti-Obama fever, is pumping up the win by former John Murtha crony Mark Critz as "arguably the most important election" of the day. And "the world's dumbest blogger" Matthew Yglesias is working the same beat:

Former John Murtha staffer Mark Critz’s win in the PA-12 House election is just straight-up embarrassing for Republicans. The Democratic strategy was straight out of the 2006/2008 playbook. Find a moderately conservative House district and run a somewhat heterodox Democrat ... To see a Democrat win an open seat in a district that went for John McCain will be a welcome sign to a large number of House Democrat incumbents from red districts.

In response, William Jacobson quips, "Dem Path to Victory in 2010 - Run As Conservative Republicans."

Robert Stacy McCain was on the ground in PA-12 and he was exuberantly boasting Tim Burns' chances. But my good friend Skye, a hot blogging pol in the Keystone State, had this from her election day preview yesterday:

CD-12 John Murtha’s district. Houston, we’ve got a problem. Tim Burns is PA GOP Chairman Rob Gleason’s golden boy. Rob Gleason an integral part of the GOP party machine who was a close friend and business partner with John Murtha. Despite rallying calls of Burns being the next Scott Brown, the race is polling dead even. The district is gerrymandered in favor of the Democrats with a 2:1 Dem voter registration lead. If Burns wins, don’t cry to me when he turn RINO. RS McCain, love you but we will have to agree to disagree on Tim Burns.

So, if you have a 2-1 Democratic voter registration advantage and run as a Republican you might be able to pull off a 53-45* percent victory in a district held by the Democrats for decades. (And that's not counting Democratic Party voting irregularities in Fayette County and who knows where else?) Yeah, that ought to bode well for the Dems in November.

Also, commentary and video from Allahpundit:

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And check C. Edmund Wright for additional perspective, "Another Very Bad Night for Obama, Democrats and the Media." Plus, more at Memeorandum.

* Corrected figures.