More From Congressman-Elect Murphy

By the way, the Philadelphia Inquirer named Bill Marimow editor today, replacing Amanda Bennett. Marimow won two Pulitzer Prizes writing for the paper in what seems like another lifetime ago. He was greeted with an enthusiastic welcome, as the Inquirer reported, but the cold, hard, bottom-line fact (which is all Brian Tierney and Bruce Toll care about, of course) remains that 150 jobs could be lost, at a maximum.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this, for whatever my opinion is worth in these matters. Marimow brings absolutely solid "cred" with him, while the only thing I remember Bennett saying that captured my attention (not in a good way) was when she proclaimed (regarding the insurgence of bloggers and other online media into what was formerly a print domain and nothing else) that, "we (the Inquirer) are the Internet in Philadelphia," which was truly one of the silliest things I'd ever heard.

So good luck to Marimow and the Inky staffers. I have a feeling that they're going to need it.

One of those people is beat reporter Christine Schiavo, who wrote about Patrick Murphy today and obviously ignored or never knew about my criticism a week or so ago (probably the latter) when she referred to Patrick's position on the issues as "typically Democrat" (which, aside from the "Democrat" slur in that context, wasn't even accurate). If you're not going to include the "ic," then all your doing is propagating a slur that works below the Mason-Dixon line, out west, and in other redneck locales.

This is what she noted...

The worn-out soles of newly elected Democrat Patrick Murphy's shoes told the story of his surprising victory in an Eighth Congressional District race that was too close to call election night.

Showing reporters the holes in the shoes he has worn since he launched his campaign more than a year ago, Murphy, a 33-year-old political newcomer, said yesterday that it was old-fashioned, door-to-door stumping that enabled him to clinch a key seat for his party.

"We knocked on 160,000 doors on Election Day alone," he said of himself and volunteers who canvassed the district, which includes all of Bucks and slivers of Montgomery County and Philadelphia.

Also, I've spent months beating up Mike Fitzpatrick for good reason at this site, but now that everything is said and done, I should note the following from Schiavo's column...

"I congratulated (Murphy) on a hard-fought campaign," (Fitzpatrick) said outside his Levittown home. "I talked to him about what an honor it has been for me to represent this community for 12 years. I asked that he represent it with the same care and compassion that I have. And I believe he will."

Murphy, whose only elected office before Tuesday's win was that of class president at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, said he intends to seek Fitzpatrick's advice before taking office.

Murphy said Fitzpatrick was "gracious" in offering to help him ease into the role. The two plan to meet when the dust settles on what was a hotly competitive and, at times, contentious race.

And I thought this was a nice touch by Patrick...

Six hours after declaring victory to bleary-eyed supporters at a Lower Bucks hotel, Murphy was at a Cornwells Heights train station at 7:30 a.m. yesterday. He thanked voters for their support for two hours, in the rain. And in the same worn-out shoes.

And I absolutely MUST link to this great AP photo of Patrick and Jennifer Murphy addressing the crowd after Patrick's victory (the photo appeared in the Daily News).

Let's wish our new congressman from PA-08 well, and given Mikey's conciliatory gesture, I promise to try and take it easy on him in the future.