BARACK OBAMA and John McCain drove the voter turnout yesterday across America, but a down-ballot battle was raging in the Philadelphia suburbs as candidates vied for open seats in the state House and freshman representatives fought for their jobs.

In Delaware County's 162nd District, Republican Nick Miccarelli, a 26-year-old Iraq War veteran and Ridley Park councilman, trounced Democrat John DeFrancisco, former president of United Aerospace Workers Local 1069.

Miccarelli will replace his former boss, outgoing Republican state Rep. Ron Raymond, for whom he had served as chief of staff.

"Our campaign was successful because our elected officials, our labor leaders, our business leaders and our community leaders carried us on their backs," Miccarelli said. "This victory truly belongs to them."

It was one of the most competitive - and nastiest - House races in Pennsylvania. Miccarelli had snagged the endorsement from DeFrancisco's union, only to have the current union president, Anthony Forte Jr., get indicted in September in an alleged kickback scheme. Voters were also bombarded with literature that tried to connect both men to President Bush.

Miccarelli said his agenda is clear: "Fixing the economy trumps all, we need to cut taxes and encourage businesses to come back to Pennsylvania and we need to pay workers a decent wage."

Democratic lawyer Tim Briggs was ahead of Republican attorney Lynne Lechter in Montgomery County's 149th District late last night. The winner will replace Democratic state Rep. Daylin Leach, who was well ahead in the race for the 17th District Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Connie Williams.

Bucks County's 31st District, which Republican David Steil has held since it was created in 1992, was leaning toward Democrat Steve Santarsiero over Republican Pete Stainthorpe. Both men sit on the Lower Makefield Township Board of Supervisors.

In Chester County's 157th District, which also includes a portion of Montgomery County, Democratic employment-law attorney Paul Drucker and Republican Guy Ciarrocchi, formerly U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach's chief of staff, were locked in a dead heat to replace Republican state Rep. Carole Rubley, who has held the seat since 1993.

Democrat Tom Houghton, chairman of the London Grove Board of Supervisors, had a minuscule lead over Republican banker John Lawrence in the 13th District race to replace longtime Chester County Republican state Rep. Art Hershey, who did not seek re-election.

Also running in that race was independent Ronald Hershey, a distant cousin of Art Hershey's, who was pulling 8 percent of the vote at 11:30 p.m.

Republican Frank Farry, chief of the Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company, knocked off freshman Democratic state Rep. Chris Frank in Bucks County's 142nd District.

Rogers, a Lower Merion commissioner, waged an emotionally charged and negative campaign in which he accused Leach of “protecting cocaine and heroine users by weakening state DUI laws.” Negative attack ads linking Leach to overturned school buses and bloody hypodermic needles may have backfired.

Leach argued that the DUI legislation he passed “toughens the law by creating blood levels so that people driving on drugs can be convicted.” No such levels previously existed, Leach said, and trace amounts are not reliable indicators of criminal behavior.

Though he pledged to remain positive, Leach responded late in the campaign with a return volley of negative ads alleging that Rogers supported President George Bush’s “disastrous policies” and opposed Gov. Ed Rendell’s program to “move Pennsylvania forward.”

A graduate of Temple University and the University of Houston Law School, Leach worked as an attorney and college professor before taking public office.

Leach has served on the Governor’s Green Ribbon Commission on Environmental Priorities and co-sponsored the Growing Greener II program.

He’s currently a member of the Judiciary, Education, Environmental Resources and Energy and Gaming Oversight Committees.

The 17th District seat came open due to state Sen. Connie Williams’ decision to step down this year.

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