Did you hear the one about the Pakistani Jew running for Congress?

IF YOU think growing up a short Pakistani Jewish kid on the Main Line might be a challenge, try running for a supposedly open congressional seat in Bucks County.

This isn't an endorsement, because I don't do endorsements in suburban primaries.

This is about Dean Malik, a lawyer who served two overseas tours in the Marines, who was raised Jewish by a Jewish mother from the Bronx and a Muslim father from Pakistan. He is raising his four children - two boys and two girls, ages 6 to 15 - Catholic, the faith of his wife, Jessica, also a former Marine.

You hear all that and you might think, "Only in America."

To hear more, I drive out to old-timey Doylestown, the county seat, which is so cute you want to pinch its cheeks. It is very traditional, but the Eighth Congressional District - all of Bucks and a sliver of Montco - has been a swing seat in recent years.

Dean will turn 45 in two weeks and was a prosecutor in the Bucks County D.A.'s Office before working for several law firms, finally settling into solo practice. He is an unabashed conservative.

On the way up to his cubbyhole third-floor office on Court Street, I run into another attorney, Steven Kitty. He's a Democrat, but endorses Dean's character and integrity. (Not that he'd vote for him, but. ...)

Dean's mom and dad met while Hafeez Malik was a graduate student at Syracuse University and Lynda Pollock was an undergrad. Long story short, they fell in love, married, and each - the Muslim and the Jew - enjoyed a long, distinguished teaching career at Villanova, a Catholic university.

Only in America.

Hafeez is a nonpracticing Sunni Muslim, says Dean, who identifies himself as Jewish.

I asked if he faced any bias growing up on the Main Line. "You mean because I'm short?" he responded with a smile. He's 5-5, but built like a tank. A small tank.

I meant religion, as he knew, and the honest answer was "no."

Religion was never an issue in his parents' household, but he admits his father and mother did bicker over Israel. Hafeez sympathized with the Palestinian side, Lynda "was very pro-Israel."

Dean believes in the two-state solution, but "the Muslim world doesn't really want a two-state solution, they want the end of Israel," he said.

His world view was shaped by his parents, his education, and his time in the military. I asked why he volunteered at 23, which led to two overseas tours - one in Iraq and one in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa.

Both his parents were very patriotic, he said, and "I realized my key to finding my way in the world was to challenge myself."

Talking politics with his buddies in Iraq, one suggested he should run for office. He saw that as another challenge.

In late 2009, Dean announced he would oppose Democrat Patrick Murphy, another Iraq War veteran, for the seat Murphy had won from Republican Mike Fitzpatrick four years earlier.

Then Fitzpatrick asked him to stand down and let him try to retake the seat. Dean agreed.

Fitzpatrick won, put term limits on himself, and will leave at the end of this term, leaving an open seat. Or so it appeared.

Here's where it gets gnarly. Dean decided to run in the April 26 primary, along with several other candidates, including State Rep. Scott Petri, who became the instant front-runner, with name recognition and endorsements. The picture changed last month when Fitzpatrick's younger brother Brian, a retired FBI agent who had been living in California, returned to Bucks County to run for his brother's seat.

Petri dutifully withdrew, clearing a lane for Brian, whom some regard as a carpetbagger.

I wanted to ask the congressman if the idea is to create a "Fitzpatrick seat," but he didn't respond to my messages.

Brian's campaign treasurer is John Poprik, husband of Pat Poprik, chairwoman of the Bucks County Republican Party, which is supposed to make its endorsement on Tuesday. Care to bet which way it will go?

What started as a long shot for Dean is now a longer shot for him to get elected to push his three main issues.

He wants mandatory term limits, and he wants redistricting taken out of politicians' hands to be done honestly and demographically to end gerrymandering. In Washington, he wants all legislation to be single-issue so bills don't turn into pork-filled Christmas trees.

"My platform is not calling for anything particularly conservative," he says.

This isn't an endorsement, but a short, former Marine, Pakistani Jewish lawyer running for Congress is something that happens only in America.

Email: stubyko@phillynews.com

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