JOHNSTOWN -- Voters in the 12th Congressional District decide today a contest that started as a blip on the political radar but turned into a referendum on the 34-year career of a congressman hailed and condemned as an anti-war icon and an old-school king of pork.

Rep. John Murtha, a Democrat whose millions in earmarks he has secured for his district over three decades have made him a seemingly permanent fixture, faces the most concerted effort yet by Republicans hoping for a backlash over his remarks that Western Pennsylvania was "racist" and "redneck."

Yesterday, tossing aside any pretense about whether he practices pork-barrel politics, Mr. Murtha sought the help of former President Bill Clinton, who flew into John Murtha Airport, rode in a motorcade down the John P. Murtha Highway and spoke at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, which this year honored its Distinguished Alumnus of 2008 -- John P. Murtha.

"I'd be here for Jack Murtha anytime because he's been a friend of mine and friend of Hillary and because when I was president he was always there," Mr. Clinton told the crowd at the school's field house.

In remarks introducing the former president, Mr. Murtha openly touted his prowess as a writer of congressional earmarks -- a practice that steers billions from the federal budget into pet projects for powerful members of Congress.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, has estimated that Mr. Murtha has been responsible for $870 million in such earmarks, primarily to his district, in the last six years, with $160 million directed to the district in the past year alone.

"Now, let me tell you what earmarks are all about," Mr. Murtha told a crowd of 2,500. "Presidents don't necessarily like earmarks because they like to put all the stuff in the budget themselves. But you know it's not the presidents who do it. It's the bureaucrats who work for them who do it. That's why it's so much better to have a member of Congress who represents that area do it."

He pointed to roads, plants and an estimated 20,000 jobs brought to the region in the past 20 years.

"The sewage and water and the roads, the bridges, all these things came about because of earmarks," Mr. Murtha said.

Less than an hour after Mr. Murtha spoke, his Republican opponent, William Russell, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who moved to the Johnstown area to challenge Mr. Murtha, held a news conference where he sought to debunk a barrage of accusations thrown at him by pro-Murtha advertising.

Mr. Murtha has argued that Mr. Russell does not, in fact, live in the 12th District. In addition to producing his driver's license and allowing a reporter to tour his home in the suburb of Upper Yoder, Mr. Russell handed out a copy of a state Democratic Committee mailing that purported to show Mr. Russell's real home in Alexandria, Va.

On the back, it is addressed to "William T. Russell" at his home on Mark Lane in Upper Yoder.

"In the past week I have watched my opponent employ a strategy that combined lying about me and my family with spreading the fear that the district cannot survive without the constant infusion of new earmarks," Mr. Russell said in a prepared statement. "Both tactics are unfortunate."

He argued that "the days of 'government gravy' are coming to an end. We must begin, today, to develop industry that does not depend on the next government handout ... because in the very near future there won't be that next government handout, no matter which representative is asking for it."

The odds against Mr. Russell winning his case were apparent in stone and glass just across the street from his campaign headquarters. A large banner identified the town's newest large business, a Northrop Grumman Corp. building, put there by a major defense contractor that relies on the goodwill of Mr. Murtha, chair the House Appropriations Committee's defense appropriations subcommittee.

Too, there are longtime voters like Joe and Diane Zamboni, who drove in from Nanty Glo with their grandson, Zack, who was visiting from New Jersey. All three of the Zambonis' children have moved away to find jobs. Nanty Glo, once the most populous borough in Cambria County and a center of coal -- Mr. Zamboni was a miner -- has suffered. The Zambonis praised Mr. Murtha's efforts to bring federal dollars and facilities to the region.

Yesterday's Murtha rally turned into a veritable festival in honor of pork -- with speaker after speaker, Mr. Murtha and Mr. Clinton included, praising the millions of dollars in earmarks the congressman has brought into the district.

Mr. Clinton said Mr. Murtha's earmarks have gone into important research into breast cancer and brain injuries, as well as high-tech plants underwritten by the government and, on some occasions, built by defense contractors.

"I know what it's like to be bulldozed, to have people forget about you," Mr. Clinton said. "I think it's good that you've got a congressman who said we need high-tech jobs here in this part of Pennsylvania."

With Mr. Russell driving on Mr. Murtha's opposition to the Iraq war, the race tightened dramatically after Mr. Murtha, in a series of interviews, suggested that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama might not fare well in Western Pennsylvania because it is "a racist area." Mr. Murtha later compounded the remark by apologizing and saying the region had, at one time, "been really redneck."

The sequence of missteps and subsequent anger among many 12th District voters -- notably those in its southwestern corner, added during reapportionment six years ago -- brought national attention and a $400,000 advertising investment by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.