Gulf vet challenges Sestak

DELAWARE COUNTY Republicans have endorsed a federal prosecutor and decorated veteran of the first Gulf War to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak in this year's 7th Congressional District race.

W. Craig Williams, who resigned this week as an assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia to run for office, got the nod last night from GOP leaders to take on Sestak, a retired Navy admiral serving his first term in Congress.

He secured the party's endorsement without a vote. No other Republican candidates came forward at the Paxon Hollow Country Club.

"Hopefully," Williams said, "the election in November goes about that smoothly."

In his first campaign speech, Williams strongly criticized Sestak, without mentioning him by name, for his belief that a deadline be set for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

"That's defeatist talk. I don't buy into it, and I don't think you do either," Williams told a small gathering of Republican leaders. "This war is turning around."

He also emphasized the need to develop alternative sources of fuel, to stop illegal immigration and to address the nation's home- mortgage crisis.

Williams, 43, of Concord, is unknown in Delaware County politics, but he brings a sterling resume to the race.

During the first Gulf War, he was an F/A-18 weapons sensors officer - think "Goose" in the movie "Top Gun" - with the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121. He received two Air Medals for individual acts of valor and five Air Medals for 56 combat missions, according to his resume.

Williams graduated first in his class from Naval Justice School in Rhode Island and has law degrees from Columbia University and the University of Florida. In recent years, he has served as a legal adviser to two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace and Gen. Richard Myers.

Under U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan, Williams worked in the criminal division, the corruption section and on the joint terrorism task force. He previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado and clerked for J.L. Edmondson, chief judge of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

Williams, however, is entering the race late and faces the challenge of not only spreading his message in the expensive Philadelphia media market but also the middle of a presidential race.

"Williams is going to have to raise the money to define himself and redefine Sestak, and that takes significant resources," said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

Sestak recently said he expected to close out 2007 with $1.7 million cash on hand, a healthy amount. His spokesman, Clarence Tong, said Sestak is focused on "ending the war in Iraq and helping more children in Pennsylvania get the health care they need" - not the November election.

"There's a time for campaigning," Tong said, "but the election isn't for another 10 months." *