House GOP Targeting 70 Democrats In 2010 Rebound Hopes

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are trying to rebound in the 2010 election from the hit they took last year's contests by targeting 70 districts held by Democrats.

Those targeted satisfy at least one of these requirements: They won less than 55 percent of the vote last year or they represent a district carried in 2008 by John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee.




Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/03/house-gop-targeting-70-de_n_250531.html

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List at the link.

Here's the playbook - those of us that have the resources to contribute time and money next year can target our efforts. Some of these are blue dogs (Herseth - SD) but not all (Sestak - PA). I know many will disagree, but I'd rather have a conservative Democrat in a seat than a conservative Republican. And for states like South Dakota, that's your choice. A Dennis Kucinich Democrat is a non-starter in the Blue Dog districts.

On edit: The list:

ALABAMA
Rep. Bobby Bright, AL-02
Rep. Parker Griffith, AL-05

ARKANSAS
Rep. Marion Berry, AR-01
Rep. Vic Snyder, AR-02
Rep. Mike Ross, AR-04

ARIZONA
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, AZ-01
Rep. Harry Mitchell, AZ-05

CALIFORNIA
Rep. Jerry McNerney, CA-11
Rep. Lorraine Sanchez, CA-47

COLORADO
Rep. Betsy Markey, CO-04

CONNECTICUT
Rep. Jim Himes, CT-04

FLORIDA
Rep. Alan Grayson, FL-08
Rep. Ron Klein, FL-22
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, FL-24

GEORGIA
Rep. John Barrow, GA-12

HAWAII
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, HI-01

IOWA
Rep. Leonard Boswell, IA-03

IDAHO
Rep. Walt Minnick, ID-01

ILLINOIS
Rep. Debbie Halvorson, IL-11
Rep. Bill Foster, IL-14

INDIANA
Rep. Brad Ellsworth, IN-08
Rep. Baron Hill, IN-09

KANSAS
Rep. Dennis Moore, KS-03

KENTUCKY
Rep. Ben Chandler, KY-06

LOUISIANA
Rep. Charlie Melancon, LA-03

MARYLAND
Rep. Frank Kratovil, MD-01

MICHIGAN
Rep. Mark Schauer, MI-07
Rep. Gary Peters, MI-09

MISSOURI
Rep. Ike Skelton, MO-04

MISSISSIPPI
Rep. Travis Childers, MS-01

NORTH CAROLINA
Rep. Larry Kissell, NC-08

NORTH DAKOTA
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, ND-At Large

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, NH-01
Rep. Paul Hodes, NH-02

NEW JERSEY
Rep. John Adler, NJ-03

NEW MEXICO
Rep. Martin Heinrich, NM-01
Rep. Harry Teague, NM-02

NEVADA
Rep. Dina Titus, NV-03

NEW YORK
Rep. Tim Bishop, NY-01
Rep. Mike McMahon, NY-13
Rep. John Hall, NY-19
Rep. Scott Murphy, NY-20
Rep. Mike Arcuri, NY-24
Rep. Dan Maffei, NY-25
Rep. Eric Massa, NY-29

OHIO
Rep. Steve Driehaus, OH-01
Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, OH-15
Rep. John Boccieri, OH-16
Rep. Zack Space, OH-18

OKLAHOMA
Rep. Dan Boren, OK-02

OREGON
Rep. David Wu, OR-01
Rep. Peter DeFazio, OR-04
Rep. Kurt Schrader, OR-05

PENNSYLVANIA
Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, PA-03
Rep. Jason Altmire, PA-04
Rep. Joe Sestak, PA-07
Rep. Chris Carney, PA-10
Rep. Paul Kanjorski, PA-11
Rep. John Murtha, PA-12

SOUTH DAKOTA
Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, SD-At large

TEXAS
Rep. Chet Edwards, TX-17

UTAH
Rep. Jim Matheson, UT-02

VIRGINA
Rep. Glenn Nye, VA-02
Rep. Tom Perriello, VA-05
Rep. Rick Boucher, VA-09
Rep. Gerry Connolly, VA-11

WISCONSIN
Rep. Ron Kind, WI-03
Rep. Dave Obey, WI-07
Rep. Steve Kagen, WI-08

WEST VIRGINIA
Rep. Allen Mollahan, WV-01

The republicans will take all 70 seats and some...The dems have lost control of the healthcare debate and the economic debate so 2010 could be a FUCKING NIGHTMARE!!!!!

then the R's will be just lucky to have a total of 70 seats left.

The sky is not falling.

However, the Dems are losing the message war on healthcare hands down! No one has come out with passion and anger to shoot down the idea Obama plans to kill old people...If my 92 yer old Grandmother is asking me about it then SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT!

Sit around acting like everyone did toward the Swift Boat ads and then act real shocked when healthcare does not pass...If it does not pass it is all downhill from there because regardless of what the stimulus bill "might" do unemployment will still be in the 8-10% range come mid terms. Remember the stimulus bill was engineered to keep unemployment under 8%...Krugman was 110% correct when him and many other economist said the stimulus was too small. I understand Obama got all he could politically when it came to the Recovery Act but if Obama and the Dems do not have healthcare reform to campaign on in 2010 look for massive Republican gains.

I am not crying wolf I am telling you the way it will be!

the Republicans can run on "the Dems failure". I fear if the Republicans gain any ground.

Others want to act as if everything is going as planned...Much like John Kerry's 2004 bid for the POTUS.

When the eldery, like my 92 yr old Grandmother, are worried Obama is going to send Federal Agents to her house in order to work out when & how she is going to die, SOMETHING IS WRONG! At almost every townhall this question is asked multiple times! People can say they are plants all they want the message is still getting out! Not a single Democrat that I know of has come out with anger & passion on all the national Sunday shows to shatter this GOP scare tactic! My Grandmother is not a GOP plant trust me! She is life long Democrat but she needed nudging to vote for an African American and now the "trust" factor is coming into play!

Healthcare is a must win for the Dems...Without healthcare reform what do they run on in 2010? "We tried, vote for us" That should get a lot of votes!!!

Carney may be vulnerable as his race was really close. Kanjorski and Murtha are in for life (pork). Sestak is supposed to announce running for Senate against Specter and I would rather him establish himself in his congressional district instead as he'll have a tough time getting Philadelphia votes (which will go for Specter).

Dahlkemper just beat long term incumbent Phil English, so she's probably safe too.

Things could get a little weird for Murtha. He's probably good for another term, but there are some ethics concerns with his associates + he is the king of pork. I think if the Republicans can find the right candidate, he's vulnerable. He's my congressman, so I hope he stays.

I think Specter is going to win regardless of who runs against him, so I hope Joe Sestak stays in the House.

"Just wait till we unleash our patented Republicon Homelander FEAR & FAIL bullshit. We guarantee you we will mess up America. Bwaa ha ha ha ha."

- Republicon Homelanders

and he has remained the incumbent since he was elected in'03. And every two years, the Repubs have come out with some sad sack of an opponent, oddly enough always with a surname starting with a Z (Italo Zanzi, Lee Zeldin...who is next, Max Zorin?)

They must seriously believe they can beat him because they are running a popular state senator against him. This man has a well known name and also owns the local minor league baseball team, so this will be a tough contest for Kind.

This is no time for Democrats to be cocky or overconfident, believing the Republicans are finished because they are not. Let them whittle away at the majority and soon Democrats will face an election where their actual control of the House is in jeopardy.

Far more could be accomplished by a smaller, even minority, but very unified party than is accomplished now.

Remember? 2005 was not that long ago. Purity tests are for regional parties like the GOP.

Despite having both houses of congress, the Democrats didn't do shit. Now there are people like Baucus fucking up healthcare. I want single payer healthcare, or at least I want people talking about it. I don't want some bought-and-paid-for jerk talking about compromise between his ultra-right "Democratic" position and that of bat-shit crazy Republicans. Having chairmanships doesn't mean shit when the chairmen don't do shit. Who from the Bush cabal is in jail right now? Oh, yeah, no one. How much further along is HR676? Yeah, that's what I thought. At least we aren't still bogged down in two unwinnable, illegal foreign wars..... oh, what's that? We are? Fucking great. High five.

And there are bought and paid for jerks on both sides - being in the minority won't help or change that.

Sorry things aren't going as fast as you want them to - the real world is slower and less ideological than the utopia in your head.

I think we'd be much better off with a minority party if it was completely jerk-free. It doesn't matter how fast things are going, because they aren't going where they should.

It really comes down to who's worse: a mortal enemy (a Republican wacko), or an enemy who is also a traitor (a blue dog). Maybe if we started throwing out the Ben Nelsons, the Joe Liebermans, the Harry Reids, the Feinsteins... maybe if we sent the message that corrupt sell-outs and traitors will not be tolerated, and to hell with the consequences, we might (someday) begin to turn this mess around. Because if we keep doing what we're doing, eventually we'll end up voting for some outright fascist wacko who carries the Democratic label - because the other guy will be even worse.

Ultimately Republicans don't work for us; they work for the plutocracy and the corps, and they serve their constituents well. But the Dems DO pretend to work for us, yet too many of them sell us out at every opportunity. And we allow them to get by with it. I'm thinking that perhaps we should focus more of our white-hot anger on the traitors who pretend to work for us, but abuse us... sell-out Dems like Max Baucus, who are able to extort Dem votes because the other side is even worse, and then proceed to sell us out. If we make an example out of a few of them, maybe better people will rise up to take their place. We desperately need to put an end to the treachery, even if it means a worse candidate wins. Short-term it would be painful, but long term it may be our only hope to rid ourselves of the cancer represented by these sell-outs. The only alternative I can see is a steady march to the right.

So as I go down that list and see sell-outs like Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, Dan Boren, Leonard Boswell, and many others... just send a clear message that sell-outs will not be supported and let them go down. Then start ratcheting up the pressure on the moderates. Because ultimately (and this is key to my argument) I think that the people of this country will rally behind a much more liberal ideology if the message is delivered by honorable, passionate, believers. When we allow the likes of Max Baucus, Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman... when we allow whores like them to dilute the brand, we destroy the brand and continue the steady march to the right. So I think you are absolutely correct. A strong, passionate minority on an honorable mission will, in time, become a strong majority. We are on the side of the angels; we are the "good guys" - there's no doubt about it. Furthermore, polls show that key liberal ideologies are supported by large majorities. And when you have truth and honor on your side it can be a very powerful thing. But when we allow our power to be diluted by embracing liars, cons, sleaze-bags, sell-outs, and opportunists it weakens us and empowers the other side. And that's what we're doing when we put "party" ahead of "what's right". It's long past time that we shake things up and stop focusing on the short-term. This is a VERY long way of saying I agree with you.

Abercrombie (D-HI01) is running for governor. Otherwise they wouldn't have a snowball's chance in, well, Waikiki of taking it.

I'll gladly donate to any real Democrat that challenges a Bush Dog in a primary.