HMM: Murtha’s hold on House seat slips: “Democratic Rep. John Murtha leads retired Army Lt. Col. William Russell by a little more than 4 percentage points, within the Susquehanna Poll’s 4.9-point margin of error. ” Some of it, reportedly, is due to Murtha’s calling his constituents racists. Go figure.

I don’t know much about Russell, but here’s his website. I like the ad calling Murtha the “king of pork.” And, really, how much do you have to know about Russell to figure he’s probably an improvement over Murtha? Plus, Michelle Malkin was saying on PJTV last night that many Republicans would find getting rid of Murtha to be something of a consolation prize even if Obama won. That’s probably right: A Murtha loss would certainly cause some Dems in Congress to think twice about going along the same path. But are Republicans around the country working for Murtha the way that Democrats have worked for some key challengers elsewhere? If so, I haven’t seen it.