Delco Times - Williams Unveils His Platform

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Craig Williams, Republican candidate for U.S. Representative in the 7th Congressional District, held a campaign rally and fundraiser at the Drexelbrook in Drexel Hill Tuesday night, where he presented his three main platform planks to a sizable crowd of supporters.

Williams, 43, of Concord, faces Democratic incumbent Joseph Sestak, 56, of Edgmont, in the November general election. As Williams noted Tuesday, he is running a "retail politics" race against Sestak's seemingly insurmountable war chest, trying to shake two hands for every dollar Sestak raises.

At last count of Federal Election Commission filings from April 8, Sestak and Williams had $2,262,000 and $132,914 on hand, respectively. Williams' spokesman, Pete Peterson, said Williams had been holding fundraisers almost nightly and meeting people daily, and the campaign hopes to put up some impressive numbers with the next filing in June.

Republicans at the national and state level will have a tough road to hoe this election in the wake of the Bush presidency, and they know it.

But Williams is upbeat about his chances in the 7th District, noting the 51,703 votes he was able to secure to Sestak's 89,041 in a primary election with extremely high Democratic turnout and a lower Republican turnout than even four years ago.

Williams also stressed the need to reduce dependence on foreign oil and address high gas prices in the short term by drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; to reduce taxes in a proposed House budget by not allowing the "Bush tax cuts" of 2001 and 2003 to expire in 2010; and to win the Iraq War and drive al-Qaida out of that country.

"And wherever they're going, we're going after them in this war on terror," he said. "So those are my three big priorities: Energy, taxes and national security. With your help, we're going to go to victory this very year in November."

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