— If you voted for Democrat Mark Critz in Tuesday’s special congressional election, a significant portion of the country’s population – not to mention many political commentators – want to know why.

Though Critz was running in the overwhelmingly Democratic 12th district, pundits say his convincing, eight-point victory over Republican Tim Burns wasn’t supposed to happen.

The closely watched, heavily scrutinized race was supposed to be the litmus test in an anti-incumbent, anti-establishment, anti-Democrat, Tea Party kind of year.

But Dave Casker, a Johnstown Democrat who supported Critz, proposes a contrary – and much more local – view of the situation.

“I think voters are pretty smart,” Casker said. “They saw that the Burns campaign was all about Washington, all about Nancy Pelosi, and not about us.”

Burns has said little publicly in the aftermath of an election that sent his opponent to Washington to fill the remainder of the late congressman John Murtha’s unexpired term.

Critz was sworn in Thursday.

But Republicans are engaging in damage control, and they’re proposing solutions. That process is vitally important for the GOP, given that – in an odd set of circumstances resulting from Murtha’s death – Critz and Burns will face each other again in November.

Many observers point to one factor, just as Casker does.

While Critz talked relentlessly about communities in the district and seemingly mentioned the word “jobs” at every opportunity, Burns attempted to make the election a referendum on the job performance of two prominent Democrats: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama.

“Mark won because he stayed focused on western Pennsylvania and what was most important to the district: Jobs and the economy,” said Shripal Shah, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman.

“Voters rejected Tim Burns because he was proven to be out of touch, a point that was reinforced by his nationalized message and his focus on national leaders instead of issues important to the district.”

Rob Gleason, a Johnstown businessman who chairs both the Cambria County and state Republican committees, concedes that there may have been too much national rhetoric from the GOP.

“The criticism of what is going on in Washington is part of the campaign,” Gleason said. “It’s not the whole campaign.”

Critz had worked for Murtha, who was well known for bringing jobs to the district. Burns founded a company that grew to employ 400 people.

Many voters chose the former over the latter, and Gleason said there may have been a problem with the communication of Burns’ accomplishments and message.

“I think Tim has to really be very clear about how he will bring jobs and economic activity to the district,” Gleason said. “It’s not enough to say he had brought jobs to the district.”

Still, Gleason is unequivocally optimistic that the general election will be different: “I’m encouraged that we could go all the way in November and win this seat.”

That’s because many Republicans believe things will change later this year, and they point to other factors that may have influenced Tuesday’s results.

For one thing, the intense U.S. Senate battle between Democrats Joe Sestak and Arlen Specter brought plenty of Democrats to the polls for Tuesday’s primary. That could have hurt the GOP’s chances in a congressional district that already has a Democratic registration advantage of more than 2 to 1.

“Those are huge hurdles,” said Tory Mazzola, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman.

Given the Democrats’ substantial numerical edge, Gleason looks at an eight-point loss philosophically: “I didn’t think the margin was that bad,” he said.

He added that Burns’ primary race against Republican William Russell may have taken a toll. With Burns prevailing in the primary, the party chairman believes those who had supported Russell will enter the fold for the general-election race.

“Absolutely, that’s going to make a big difference,” Gleason said. “(Russell supporters) are conservative people, and I think they’ll give Burns a big lift.”

However, Critz may himself get a general-election lift from being able to campaign as an incumbent. He was a largely unknown former Murtha staffer in the spring campaign; this fall, he’ll be congressman Critz.

Asked about that shortly after his victory Tuesday night, Critz was not making any predictions.

“What it means in November, we’ll figure out what it means when we get there,” Critz said.

But Republican leaders think they know what it means: They contend Critz’s voting record as a congressman will undermine his campaign image as a social conservative.

“Mark Critz will have a record, and that record will be closely aligned with Speaker Pelosi,” Mazzola said. “And that is a huge political liability in that district.”

Critz’s campaign manager, Mike Mikus, begs to differ.

“Mark Critz is going to do what he said he was going to do in the campaign,” Mikus said.

“He’s going to be an independent voice for the 12th Congressional District.”

No matter what the Congressional Record shows by late summer, it seems clear that the GOP is not giving up on the 12th district.

However, it’s unclear whether the National Republican Congressional Committee will spend nearly $1 million on the general election as the organization did in the spring.

“This remains a competitive seat. It’s a priority,” Mazzola said. “But it’s too early to discuss how we’ll allocate resources.”