Rep. Jim Gerlach (R) knows his constituents aren’t very happy with the war in Iraq, or with the president. When Bush held a fundraiser for him last month, his fellow Pennsylvania congressman Curt Weldon decided not to come, saying "there's nothing the president can do to help me." But Gerlach’s concerns about reelection weren’t enough to make him cross the aisle during this weekend’s vote on the war in Iraq. He voted for the GOP-backed resolution but pushed for more Congressional oversight of the war.

"We must prevail, but at the same time we must make it undeniably clear to the Iraqi government that our patience and support are not blank checks that can be cashed with American lives and tax dollars," Gerlach said during the House debate. He also submitted a concurrent resolution, which would require House and Senate committees to review and evaluate progress in the transfer of responsibility to Iraqis. The resolution has not been voted on.

Gerlach’s Democratic opponent, Lois Murphy, dismissed the Iraq vote as “nothing more than a political stunt designed to distract us from the failed record of the Bush administration and Jim Gerlach's Republican Congress.” Murphy came within two points of beating Gerlach in 2004.