Murphy, who holds a doctorate in psychology, was elected in 2002 when the 18th District was created and is seeking his fourth term. He prides himself as one of the few members of Congress with a background in health care and maintains there is $400 billion of waste in the national health-care system.
He has championed the use of information technology to prevent medication and medical errors and to reduce costly duplication of tests. He argues for better use of preventive care and bemoans the fact that Medicare and Medicaid will pay to cut off a diabetic patient's leg but won't spend 5 cents to call him up and ask how his glucose level is.
He also sponsored legislation requiring hospital-acquired infections to be reported publicly to allow patients to make informed decisions. His recommendations led the government to refuse Medicare payments for preventable infections, giving hospitals a big incentive to be more vigilant.
He presents himself as a centrist - he won't even discuss his party's vice presidential nominee - and boasts that he is one of only two Republicans to run with the support of both business groups and the AFL-CIO. He quotes Congressional Quarterly as calling him one of the most independent Republicans in Congress.
His Democratic opponent is Steve O'Donnell, a Monroeville businessman whom we endorsed in the primary. He favors a universal, single-payer, nonprofit health-care system and alleges that Murphy offers "no real solution" on the subject.
As in the spring, he calls for pulling troops out of Iraq and in our editorial board interview seemed to deny that the recent surge had worked, although even Barack Obama has acknowledged that it has.
We can see no good reason to oppose Murphy and would agree that he has provided good representation for a district that is geographically challenging. It was drawn up following the 2000 census by Republicans who controlled the state Legislature and wanted to maximize their party's strength in Congress. Like the 12th District, which is represented by John Murtha, its boundaries criss-cross Washington, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties and a tiny corner of Beaver, and in some municipalities even run down the middle of streets.
If you live in Canonsburg, North Strabane, Carroll or Charleroi, you might have a different congressman than your neighbor does - and your borough officials have two to appeal to.
Not only is Canonsburg divided, but the greater Washington area, where the municipalities share a commonality of interests, has two congressmen to deal with rather than one. Murtha has the city and Canton Township, Murphy has North Franklin, and South Strabane and East Washington are cut up between the two.
These misalignments are the product of a system whereby district lines are determined politically, with whichever party dominates the Legislature holding the cards. We should replace this with an independent commission, but doing so would require amending the state Constitution.
But it is too late now for an amendment to work its way through the complex process in time for the reapportionment that by law must follow the 2010 Census. Could we hope for 2020? That's only 12 years away.