Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette
	U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy talks to Dan Polinsky at his Monroeville home about why he'd like to continue as his representative in government.
	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette
	Chad Kluko greets people waiting for the Hempfield High School homecoming parade before Friday's football game. Mr. Kluko is the Democratic nominee running against incumbent Tim Murphy.

Tim Murphy has seen this movie before: Upstart, unknown, underfunded Democrat tries to win race against highly visible, politically entrenched Republican congressman.

It's been a good story line for him. He just hopes the ending doesn't change as a result of an unsettled electorate that could favor challenger Chad Kluko more than they did Mr. Murphy's past competitors in the heavily Democratic 18th Congressional District.

Many analysts, including some in the Democratic Party, believe it will take a tidal wave of anti-incumbent, anti-Republican fervor Nov. 7 to turn Mr. Murphy out of an office that he won by at least 60 percent in 2002 and 2004. But the incumbent from Upper St. Clair, a psychologist who formerly served in the state Senate, seems to be allowing for that possibility.

"We always operate as if we're one point down. We're always very aggressive in our outreach," Mr. Murphy, 54, said while knocking on doors in Monroeville last week. "The last thing I want is for people to think that I take them for granted."

The majority of the district's voters are in southern Allegheny County, with parts of Westmoreland and Washington counties included. The district has 70,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. Persuading enough Democrats to vote a straight party ticket, with Gov. Ed Rendell and U.S. Senate candidate Bob Casey at the top, is one way Mr. Kluko could pull an upset, said U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills.

"I would only say look at 1994," Mr. Doyle suggested, recalling when Republicans overwhelmed Democrats in congressional races. "The day after Election Day, a lot of members of Congress, supposedly ahead by 20-point margins, woke up and found out they weren't congressmen anymore."

Mr. Kluko, 45, is a former executive in the telecommunications and broadcast industries in California who returned to his hometown, Monroeville, four years ago to help care for his father, who died of cancer in 2003. Unmarried, he lives a few doors away from his mother.

He describes himself as a Reagan Republican in his early adulthood, who veered toward the Democrats in the 1990s because he was unhappy with what he viewed as the new Republican leadership's divisive, overly partisan social values agenda.

He changed his party registration to Democratic after returning to Pennsylvania, and was encouraged by Mr. Doyle relatively late to enter the congressional race after better-known candidates declined. Mr. Kluko bested another political newcomer, Tom Kovach, in the spring primary.

The challenger's formidable odds are symbolized with a simple equation of dollars. While their latest financial reports will be released this week, Mr. Murphy says he has at least $1 million to spend on the race. Mr. Kluko's balance is less than $10,000.

When the incumbent begins airing television ads this week, Mr. Kluko will have nothing to counteract him. He is more so relying on his predecessors' ability to draw about 40 percent of the votes against Mr. Murphy in 2002 and 2004.

"There's a lot of anger out there. ... 2006 is a different time," he said. "If that's my foundation, that, in a good Republican year, challengers could bring in 40 percent of the vote, what can I do when people want change? When there is anti-incumbent sentiment in Pennsylvania? When this is not a good year for Republicans?"

Mr. Murphy said his work ethic, traveling throughout the district incessantly to meet with constituents at workplaces, churches and community events, is a large part of how he overcomes the party registration disadvantage. Some still know him as the "Dr. Tim" who used to appear on KDKA-TV, discussing family issues from his psychology background. Others know him because he attended their community meetings.

"The issues may change year to year, but what continues on is letting people know I'm part of their community," he said. "People may raise questions about the president, and I say, 'That's why we have three branches of government, to work things out.' This is not a referendum on George Bush. This is a referendum on what I work on for them."

When he talks to older constituents, of which he has many, the incumbent declares without hesitation, "I'm one of the few people in Congress who works on health care." His agenda on that topic includes altering Medicare and Medicaid financial reimbursements to physicians and hospitals to place more emphasis on preventive health, and to reduce life-threatening infections.

The failure of government subsidies to encourage early health intervention is among the topics where, Mr. Murphy said, he parts company with the Bush administration, along with the president's proposal of amnesty for long-term illegal immigrants and parts of the No Child Left Behind education initiative.

Mr. Kluko, who, presumably, has abandoned the hobby of surfing that he enjoyed while a California businessman, said he is a centrist who wants to avoid the kind of partisanship that is now pervasive in Washington. He emphasizes to listeners, however, "This Republican administration is not working for you. It's against your future," by building trillions of dollars in debt, while "providing tax breaks to the wealthiest of Americans, to the big oil companies." The Bush administration's difficulties in Iraq have angered many Americans, he said, who are looking for withdrawal.

Unlike many a Democrat, he peppers his speaking with many buzz words from the business world, from which he emphasizes his technological savvy: Hitting "benchmarks," seeking "enablers" to strengthen the local economy, "baking the data" to figure out solutions.

The bigger question than understanding the terms, perhaps, is how many people are able to hear him, including Democrats turned off by recent national policies and events. Mr. Kluko has been forced to dedicate so much time to fund-raising phone calls that his campaign appearances are fewer than most serious challengers.

Mr. Murphy said he expected to debate his opponent at least once, in a setting to be determined, but he rarely sees him at community events. They have encountered each other briefly.

"I wish I knew enough about him to say something," the incumbent said when asked his impression of the challenger.

How much that lack of familiarity matters to voters could help determine if Nov. 7 is another day of deja vu for Mr. Murphy, or whether the simple fact that Mr. Kluko is not a Republican incumbent will be sufficient to script a different ending.