Melissa Hart

Former Gov. Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention: RNC Photo

 Former Gov. Mitt Romney is scheduled to embark on a three-day, eight-state trip Tuesday to campaign for Republicans in eight congressional races.

Romney, a 2008 presidential candidate, will be using a plane provided to him by the Nation Republican Congressional Committee through an arrangement with the candidates, according to Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom.

Check out which candidates is campaigning for after the jump.

Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will fundraise for 4th Congressional District candidate Melissa Hart on Oct. 21 in Pittsburgh.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and one-time vice presidential hopeful, is the second high-profile Republican to help raise money for Hart. Earlier this week, Newt Gingrich attended a Hart fundraiser in Wexford.

Call it the Republican version of Democrats' constant attempts to link GOP lawmakers to President Bush.

A new ad being aired by Congressional candidate Melissa Hart tries to link U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-McCandless) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while also blaming people's economic troubles on tax increases.

"We spend our nights worrying how we're going to make ends meet, and our days working as hard as we can to only get furter behind," the narrator says.

Hart is mounting a competitive challenge to Altmire in the 4th Congressional District.

See the ad embedded below: 

Former U.S. Rep. Melissa HartBEAVER -- U.S. House candidate Melissa Hart is counting on 2008 to be different than 2006, when voters in the 4th Congressional District removed her from office amid a tidal wave of anti-GOP sentiment in the state and country.

She can point to one way it already is -- the absence of former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and GOP gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann. Neither is on the ballot this year, unlike 2006, when each lost by more than 15 points to his Democratic opposition.

Their ill-fated candidacies, combined with a highly unpopular war in Iraq, helped put U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-McCandless) in office, Hart told PolitickerPA.com while knocking on doors in Beaver Borough last Saturday. She was canvassing the area as part of what aides say has become a vigorous grassroots effort to help put Hart back in office.

"Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong in 2006," Hart said.

The difference provided by the top of this year's Republican ticket, John McCain and Sarah Palin, and attempts to paint Altmire as a "Nancy Pelosi liberal" are Hart's two biggest hopes to recapture her former seat.

Republicans nationally and in Pennsylvania tout the energy vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has instilled in the GOP.

On Tuesday, it caused state party Chairman Bob Gleason to make a bold prediction: Republicans will win back "four or five" congressional seats in the Keystone State.

Generic ballots between Republicans and Democrats show a dead heat, Gleason said, "and that's caused Democrats to be very nervous about their congressional seats."

The chairman, joined by congressional candidate Craig Williams for the state's 7th Congressional District, spoke to reporters on a conference call hours before Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden campaigned in the Philadelphia suburbs.

The campaign for congressional candidate Melissa Hart says an internal poll showing the candidate facing a 5-point deficit proves she is in a "tight race" against Democratic incumbent Jason Altmire in the 4th Congressional District.

The poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and released Monday by Hart's campaign, says "Melissa is well within striking distance, and if she has the funds to fully fund her advertising budget, she should be able to break Altmire's tenuous hold on this seat."

Its margin of error is 4.9 percent.

Hart is challenging Altmire after losing to him by fewer than 4 percentage points in 2006, a year poisonous for Republican statewide and nationally.

Tom Cole, the Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee will be in state on Wednesday to campaign for former Congresswomen Melissa Hart.  Cole and Hart will hold a joint press conference at the Ingomar Gulf gas station to discuss energy and energy exploration. 

Congressional candidate Melissa Hart has received the endorsement of Firearm Owners Against Crime, a Second Amendment Political Action Committee that could help her pro-gun credentials after her opponent, U.S. Jason Altmire (D-McCandless), received the NRA endorsement.

FAOC has 60,000 "contacts" across the state and is the state's largest pro-gun PAC, according to a release from Hart's campaign,

Kim Stofler, chairwoman of the group, credited the former congresswoman for her dedication to protecting Second Amendment Rights.

"Unfortunately the same cannot be said for her opponenent as the incumbent has avoided making the tough decisions when it comes to choosing between politics and citizens freedoms," Stofler said in a statement.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) said Tuesday that  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) faces a potential revolt from rank-and-file members of Congress over her handling of a bill that would lift a ban on offshore oil drilling. Altmire told PolitickerPA.com that many Democrats, including the 24 who co-sponsored the compromise energy bill, have challenged Pelosi's position, and he said the Speaker of the House knows her stance might soon be toppled by members who will bring the measure for a vote by Sept. 30. "Well, I can't speak for her, but I think she realizes she's starting to lose her grip on this issue," he said. "The PR battle has been lost."

Former Congresswomen Melissa Hart has issued the following statement on the endorsement of the NRA for her opponent Congressman Jason Altmire.

“The Washington, D.C. NRA group has a policy of giving endorsement preference to incumbents if they have not voted against NRA issues.