Rep. Charlie Dent (R) Elected 2004, 1st term
Born:	May 24, 1960, Allentown
Home:	Allentown
Education:	PA St. U., B.A. 1982, Lehigh U., M.P.A. 1993
Religion:	Presbyterian
Marital Status:	married (Pamela)
Elected  Office:	PA House of Reps., 1990-98; PA Senate, 1998-2004.
Professional Career:	Development officer, Lehigh U., 1986-90.
DC Office	502 CHOB20515, 202-225-6411; Fax: 202-226-0078; Web site: www.dent.house.gov
State Offices	Bethlehem, 610-861-9734.
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Allentown, Pennsylvania, has long been derided by show-biz songwriters, from "42nd Street" back in 1933, in which it was scorned as nowhere, the polar opposite of Broadway, to Billy Joel's "Allentown" in 1982, with its grim picture of closed factories and unemployment. Though both contain nuggets of truth, neither is an entirely fair portrait of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley today: Allentown and next-door Bethlehem did suffer when big employers--Mack Truck in Allentown and Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem--closed down big plants in the 1980s. But the Lehigh Valley around Allentown and Bethlehem in recent years had solid growth and low unemployment rates, thanks to a mix of regional health care networks, telephone call-centers for insurance companies (Aetna) and banks (Wachovia), long-surviving industries (such as Air Products and Chemicals, energy utility PPL and the remnants of Mack Truck's local operations), and small startups that don't earn the visibility of the big closedowns but which together have created more new jobs than have been lost. In the Lehigh Valley, 43% of employees work for companies with 100 or fewer workers, and 10% for companies with 10 or fewer. Some 8% of the population here is Hispanic, higher than in any other Pennsylvania metro area--a sure sign that the area is generating new jobs. The redevelopment plan of Bethlehem includes industrial parks, a convention center, hotel complex and National Museum of Industrial History housed in part of the old steel plant; the first working facility to move onto the site is a large refrigerated warehouse. If the Lehigh Valley is off the main lines of traffic, it does at least have several features that make it attractive to people from the big city. Commuters are connected by I-78 to New York and by the Turnpike Extension to Philadelphia; it has lower taxes and living costs than New Jersey or Philadelphia; it has a cluster of colleges (Lehigh, Muhlenberg, Moravian) and a strong regional newspaper (the Allentown Morning Call); and it has both Dorney Park, one of the nation's oldest amusement parks, and the Crayola Crayon factory in Easton. Easton's old industrial buildings, just across the Delaware River from New Jersey, have become something of a magnet for artists seeking inexpensive loft and warehouse space.

The 15th Congressional District of Pennsylvania consists of the Lehigh Valley plus a small adjoining slice of northern Montgomery County. Politically, this has long been a classic swing area, located at the intersection of heavily Democratic industrial precincts and the Republican farmlands of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. The valley backed Ronald Reagan twice, the elder George Bush in 1988 and Bill Clinton twice; it voted for Al Gore and John Kerry by miniscule margins. In the past five governors' races, it voted for the winner each time: twice for Democrat Robert Casey, twice for Republican Tom Ridge and for Democrat Ed Rendell in 2002.

The congressman from the 15th District is Charlie Dent, a Republican elected in 2004. Dent grew up in Allentown, graduated from Penn State and got a graduate degree at Lehigh, where he later worked as a development officer. In 1990 he was elected to the state House and in 1998 to the state Senate, where he chaired the Urban Affairs and Housing Committee. He enacted a bill to make assaults on gays a hate crime. In 2003, when 15th District Republican Pat Toomey announced that he would keep his 1998 promise to serve only three terms and would run against Senator Arlen Specter in the 2004 Republican primary, Dent immediately became the front-runner to succeed him. His lifelong residence in the Lehigh Valley was in sharp contrast to the background of the Democratic nominee, businessman Joe Driscoll. Driscoll grew up in Massachusetts, where he went sailing with the Kennedys and made enough money to spend $2 million on this race. But he lived for years in posh Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, just outside Philadelphia. In 2003 he considered running against incumbent Republican Jim Gerlach in the 6th District but after Lehigh Valley Democrats failed to recruit a local candidate in January 2004 Driscoll announced he would run in the 15th; he bought a townhouse in Upper Macungie Township in September though his wife and children continued living outside the district. In the April primary, Driscoll was opposed by a perennial candidate who had run for office nine times without success and who sued to have Driscoll removed from the ballot for allegedly lying about his residence. The judge ruled that Driscoll could run here but that he must list his home in Lower Merion Township. He won, but by only 56%-44%. On the Republican side, Dent's two opponents charged he was too liberal but he won with 51% to 33% for Joe Pascuzzo and 16% for Brian O'Neill.

Dent framed the campaign as a contest between a native son and a carpetbagging outsider. Aside from his college years and a stint in Washington, he had spent his entire life in the Lehigh Valley. He portrayed Driscoll as a Philadelphia outsider whom Democrats recruited because of his ability to self-finance his race. Dent said that Driscoll considered the Lehigh Valley "a speed bump on his way to Congress." Driscoll said that he would continue to live there, even if he lost the election. He sought to deflect the residency issue with aggressive criticism of the Bush administration; he claimed that a vote for Dent was an endorsement of Bush's policies. He blamed rising health care costs on Republicans, while Dent called for reform of medical malpractice insurance costs. When Driscoll criticized him for taking a $10,000 contribution from Majority Leader Tom DeLay's PAC, Dent responded, "99% of my opponent's campaign money comes from outside the 15th District." Dent's moderate record, which included support for abortion rights, made it difficult to tie him to Bush; he insisted he would be an independent voice in Washington. Dent won 59%-39%, a wider margin than Toomey had won in his three races. A few weeks after the election, Driscoll's real estate agent said that he put his townhouse here up for sale and moved back to Lower Merion Township.

Committees

• Government Reform (21st of 23 R): Federalism & the Census (Vice Chmn.); National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations.
• Homeland Security (19th of 19 R): Emergency Preparedness, Science & Technology; Intelligence, Information Sharing & Terrorism Risk Assessment; Management, Integration & Oversight.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (33d of 41 R): Aviation; Economic Development, Public Buildings & Emergency Management.

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Charlie Dent (R)	170,634	59%	$1,971,131
	Joe Driscoll (D)	114,646	39%	$2,295,656
	Other	5,854	2%
2004 primary	Charlie Dent (R)	25,376	51%
	Joe Pascuzzo (R)	16,152	33%
	Brian O'Neill (R)	7,749	16%
2002 general	Pat Toomey (R)	98,493	57%	$1,029,593
	Ed O'Brien (D)	73,179	43%	$824,636

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 150,939 (50%) Bush (R) 150,213 (50%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 119,393 (49%) Bush (R) 116,817 (48%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Fifteenth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 2
• District Size: 851 square miles
• Population in 2000: 646,300; 87.2% urban; 12.8% rural
• Median Household Income: $45,330; 8.2% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 26.5% blue collar; 59.4% white collar; 14.1% gray collar; 13.5% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 86.4% White, 2.8% Black, 1.7% Asian, 0.1% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.0% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 7.9% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 21.9% German, 9.0% Irish, 8.1% Italian
• Click here for statewide demographic data.