The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, sensing what it sees as a vulnerable incumbent, is keeping the heat on U.S. Rep. Phil English, of Erie, R-3rd Dist.

The DCCC is running brief ads on six radio stations in Erie stating that English voted four times this year to support what it calls President George W. Bush’s “failed policy’’ in Iraq. “Call Phil English. Tell him we need a new direction in Iraq,’’ the announcer on the ad says.

The cookie-cutter ads are running in 11 other congressional districts where Democrats hope to make inroads in 2008.

English’s press secretary, Julia Wanzco, said the new Democratic majority in Congress has scheduled a series of Iraq war votes over the past six months that, most of the time, have come across as partisan political statements rather than substantial policy changes.

She said her boss is one of the few bipartisan lawmakers on this issue.

Whatever the case, English knows that the DCCC is aiming for the district seat that he has occupied for the past 13 years.

While at least three Democrats are looking to beat him in 2008, the congressman told the Erie Times-News editorial board that his biggest adversaries could be the DCCC and the national mood on Iraq, the economy and Washington, D.C. itself.

— John Guerriero