THIS SORT OF SEAT HAS TO BE THE DEMOCRAT'S FIREBREAK:

The man out to topple Barney Frank (Jeff Jacoby, September 8, 2010, Boston Globe)

‘WHEN I was young, I was a Democrat because I wanted to help people,’’ says Sean Bielat, who is running to replace Barney Frank in the US House of Representatives. “Now I’m a conservative because I want to help people.’’

Bielat is a whip-smart 35-year-old Marine, a successful business manager, and a first-time candidate for Congress out to topple the 29-year incumbent whom many consider the face of liberal Washington arrogance. Mission impossible? Eight months ago, a political thunderbolt electrified Massachusetts and put Republican Scott Brown in Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat. Bielat aims to induce that lightning to strike again. [...]

Bielat (who is opposed by perennial candidate Earl Sholley in the GOP primary) would repeal Obamacare, favors peace through military strength, and wants the Bush tax cuts extended — all mainstream Republican views. Yet he is neither libertarian purist nor far-right conservative. He faults Republicans, for example, for not taking environmental issues more seriously. He wants Congress to reclaim its constitutional responsibility to declare war. To preserve Social Security, he envisions a bipartisan package of fixes — not just private savings accounts, but also means-testing benefits, raising the retirement age, and lifting the income cap on Social Security taxability.