The Eye

"I have not made a public pronouncement with respect to the congressional race at this point, but I am seriously considering it and looking into it in a very serious way," O'Brien added.

"We'll have more to say about that, certainly before the end of the year."

O'Brien said that he's looking seriously at the race "because I think it's an important opportunity in our nation's history to be actively involved to ensure that our children have a better quality of life than we do today."

O'Brien, 36, was elected in 2007 as a commissioner in Lackawanna County, which includes Scranton and is the most Democratic-leaning of the five counties that comprise the 11th District. He worked in Washington, D.C., for a decade, including a stint in the Clinton White House.

Kanjorski, 72, is a senior member of the Financial Services Committee and chairs its panel on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises.

O'Brien, who worked for a financial services law firm, suggested that there has been too much focus on shoring up hedge funds and the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and not enough on the everyday struggles of people.

"While we're worrying about those entities, I think we're failing to remember what built this country, and that's the people who are living in our communities," he said. "We need to start refocusing our efforts to make sure that the middle class doesn't evaporate in this process and that our communities aren't weakened in this process."

O'Brien said that he has emphasized ethics as a county commissioner and suggested he would do the same as a candidate for Congress.

First elected in 1984, Kanjorski has not faced opposition in the Democratic primary in his past 10 re-election campaigns. Kanjorski's only primary challenge came in 1986, when he won 94 percent of the vote.

O'Brien said that it would be "extremely difficult to beat a 25-year incumbent, but I feel confident moving forward that we'll be able to get our message out and let the voters decide."

Pennsylvania's 11th, which includes Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton, has a decided Democratic lean, having backed Barack Obama over John McCain by 57 percent to 42 percent in the 2008 election. Yet Kanjorski was re-elected with just 52 percent of the vote over Republican Lou Barletta, the popular mayor of Hazleton.

It's not clear who the Republican nominee will be. CQ Politics rates as Democrat Favored the November 2010 general election race in Pennsylvania's 11th.

To follow the 2010 House races, check out the CQ Politics election map