John Murtha (D-PA) passed away today and so ends an interesting congressional career for one of America’s most interesting politicians.
Murtha was a typical type of politician that moved up the ranks in Washington in the mid-1970s.

Elected to represent Johnstown, PA in 1974, Murtha was part of the post-Watergate class that felt that Richard Nixon and the GOP at the time had disgraced the country (which they did) and would bring order, civility and respect to the capital. On this, Murtha was a failure. Although Murtha brought much bacon to his district, he was constantly ensnarled in unethical situations, the worst being the Abscam scandal in 1980.

The Vietnam War veteran had been the Chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee since 2007 after losing in his bid to become Majority Leader when the Democrats gained control of the lower house in 2006.

Despite his troubles, Murtha was reelected every two years and mostly by sizable margins. While his reelection chances heading into 2010 were perilous, no one would have been surprised if the congressman would have been reelected again.

With Murtha’s death comes the likelihood that the GOP will have another pick-up opportunity on its hands both in the upcoming special and general election later this year.