John Tanish, The Tribune-Democrat
	U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., listens to speakers during a recent support rally in Johnstown.
	Chris Greenberg, Associated Press
	Washington County Commissioner and Republican congressional candidate Diana L. Irey meets with reporters at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Rarely in the annals of American politics has the much-used David-Goliath analogy been so apropos. U.S. Rep. John Murtha is literally and figuratively daunting -- literally because he's 6 feet, 3 inches tall and broad-shouldered with a booming voice; figuratively because he's a giant in Congress, a 32-year veteran of the House of Representatives. And his challenger, Republican Diana Irey, is the opposite -- soft-spoken, slight, barely clearing 5 feet, a neophyte on the national stage.

We know how the Bible story ended. But can Mrs. Irey slay this towering Johnstown warrior?

Since earning a surprising victory in her first run for political office, when she defeated an incumbent to secure a seat on the Washington County Board of Commissioners in 1995, Mrs. Irey has been a favorite among Pennsylvania's GOP notables such as former Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey, and Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum. A West Virginia native, she married into a family with some clout. Her late father-in-law, Frank Irey, was GOP chairman in Washington County. For years, there had been speculation that she'd be recruited to run for higher office, but, until now, she's balked, citing her young family and her comfort with her role in Washington, Pa.

What changed? Last autumn, she said, Mr. Murtha's call for American withdrawal from Iraq lit a fire. At the same time, she had been marginalized on the commissioners board, the only Republican there, serving with two Democrats. Add a dash of ambition and the timing was right.

"Jack Murtha's been in office for 32 years, and that's too long," said Mrs. Irey, 44, the mother of three teens. "I believe he's lost touch with the beliefs of the people in the 12th District. ... He no longer is voting the conservative values of the 12th District. He's voting more like he's the congressman from liberal San Francisco than conservative southwestern Pennsylvania."

National exposure
With more than $2.5 million raised and $1.8 million on hand, Mr. Murtha is financially better off than his foe. Mrs. Irey had raised $305,000 and had $159,000 in cash on hand as of June 30, the most recent Federal Election Commission reporting deadline. And, despite her hopes of using Mr. Murtha's well-publicized Iraq comments to nationalize the race and her fund-raising base -- "We have contributions from all 50 states," she said -- $36,000, or 23 percent, of her campaign funds have come from out of state. And a recently published poll showed her trailing 57 percent to 30.

Still, those numbers tell just part of the story. Mrs. Irey has outpaced several of Pennsylvania's congressional challengers and has raised more money than at least one incumbent. Her invitations to "Fox News Live" and "Hannity & Colmes," and her stint on "Hardball with Chris Matthews" are as good as free advertising and are luxuries that aren't afforded to all congressional challengers. She's also been supported by a vociferous Internet-based anti-Murtha campaign, organized by a group known as Vets for the Truth, which has rallied opposition to certain Democratic candidates who have served in the U.S. military. Presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry was the group's most notable victim.

Mrs. Irey hopes that outside support will be joined by a regional electorate that registers Democratic but often votes conservatively. Over the course of a half-hour interview, Mrs. Irey tossed up a dozen conservative boilerplate issues: gay marriage, the Pledge of Allegiance, immigration and border security, lower taxes, drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and, of course, her support and Mr. Murtha's disapproval of the Iraq war.

The war looms as the largest issue in many congressional races across the country, but especially so in this race. Mr. Murtha, 74, a retired Marine reservist and the top-ranking Democrat on the House committee that disburses defense appropriations, crashed into the national consciousness in November, when he called for a military withdrawal from Iraq, to be carried out at the earliest practical date. He became a darling of the anti-war left and, just as quickly, a target for the right, which has branded him a traitor.

Both candidates say they speak for veterans. Mr. Murtha has done so historically, noting that he visits military hospitals once a week, and he suggests that he, and not Mrs. Irey, is in better position to gauge the military's mood. His opposition to the war "is a policy thing. This has nothing to do with supporting the military," he said.

But Mrs. Irey predicts she'll win close to half of the veteran voting bloc Nov. 7. The disaffection with Mr. Murtha is greater than his campaign realizes, she said. "Every time we withdraw before a mission is completed," Mrs. Irey said, "we send a message of surrender."

Mrs. Irey has seized on not only Mr. Murtha's November comments, but also his response to the deaths of two dozen unarmed Haditha, Iraq, residents who were killed by U.S. Marines reportedly outraged over the death of a comrade. Mr. Murtha said the Marine group killed in "cold blood," and suggested that the group's superiors tried to cover up the deaths. "Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood," he said.

The remarks "were completely inappropriate," said Mrs. Irey. "That was a rush to judgment. What he did was wrong."

His sudden outspokenness is surprising to those who have known him over his three decades in Congress. Until last year, Mr. Murtha was generally viewed as a behind-the-scenes deal-maker who was able to navigate the congressional power structure while rarely airing dirty laundry. His Haditha comments seemed out of character, and politically ill-advised. So, too, did his remarks at a Sept. 30 political rally, during which he said that he knew of military wives who were abused by their soldier husbands.

"This war is [tearing] the families apart," he said. "I see women who have been abused when their husbands come home."

If the Haditha comments don't hurt him, Mrs. Irey hopes that Mr. Murtha's ancillary role in the Abscam congressional bribery scandal will. Like some of Mr. Murtha's previous opponents, she hopes to make hay by pointing out that Mr. Murtha was an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the 1980s scandal. The FBI sting netted several congressmen, including two from Pennsylvania, by offering bribes in exchange for favors and asylum for a fictitious Arab sheik.

When an agent offered $50,000, Mr. Murtha memorably responded: "I'm not interested, at this point." In resurrecting Abscam, Mrs. Irey has been aided by talk radio, as well as by The American Spectator magazine, which unearthed the hour-long video of the attempted sting and released it last month. In the video, Mr. Murtha invites the agents to invest in his district, possibly in the coal mining industry, or in area banks, hoping to bring jobs to his district.

He also seems aware that he is toeing the legal line, and says he doesn't plan to throw away his legislative career for a few bucks.

"I'm going to be there 20 years in that Congress, and I don't want to screw it up by some little thing along the way. If I wanted to make a lot of money, I'd have been outside," in the private sector, he says. Mr. Murtha, then as now, reminds voters that "I was the one who didn't take the money."

How serious a threat?
How seriously does Mr. Murtha take the Irey campaign?

It's tough to say. Publicly, he says his campaign's internal polls show a generous lead, and he says he doesn't count Mrs. Irey among his toughest challengers. "Mascara was a threat. Bailey was a threat. They were sitting congressmen," he said, speaking of former Reps. Frank Mascara, a Democrat who lost his district to Mr. Murtha in a primary forced by reapportionment, and Don Bailey, who lost the same way.

But he's also hired a private detective to look into Mrs. Irey's past. The firm, Gentile-Meinert and Associates, didn't discover anything of note, Mr. Murtha said, although it reported that Mrs. Irey has a poor attendance record. She's been appointed to a lot of boards, but doesn't always attend the meetings, he said.

He said the hiring an investigator was not an indication that he views Mrs. Irey as a contender. His campaign hires a detective to investigate all of his political opponents, Mr. Murtha said.

Mrs. Irey sees it another way.

"People across the nation care about this race," she said. "Of course, it has very little to do with me, and everything to do with my opponent." For example, donations to her campaign spike each time she appears on cable TV to criticize Mr. Murtha.

Still, the spikes don't add up to much, relative to Mr. Murtha's campaign funds. Trailing in money, she'll have to hope that her many TV appearances will help build name recognition in the eastern part of the district, then rely on her popularity in parts west, where she's been in office longer than Mr. Murtha has. Though he's been in Congress for 16 terms, and is now seeking his 17th, much of Mr. Murtha's district -- including the Washington County side -- is new to him, a result of redistricting after the 2000 Census.

He said his district has a Democratic voting registration majority of 150,000. But in recent elections, some of those registered Democrats have been voting Republican. In the 2004 presidential election, Westmoreland and Cambria counties tilted to President Bush. Mr. Murtha's 12th District contains pieces of both counties, all of Greene County, jagged bits of Armstrong, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset and Washington counties, and a sliver of Allegheny.

Recent history, as far as Mr. Murtha is concerned, is ancient history. "Our polling says they're not going to vote Republican this time," he said. "The Democrats are going to be in the majority. There's going to be a hurricane throughout the country."

But Mrs. Irey hopes the country's anti-Republican mood will be trumped by more generic anti-incumbent sentiments. "I'm afraid that our nation is headed in the wrong direction," she said. "This is going to be the Diana and Goliath story."