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Thursday, March 13, 2008
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Baker's Dozen of Dem Challengers to Get Extra Aid

By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the political arm of majority Democrats in the U.S. House, announced Wednesday an initial roster of Democratic challengers who will receive enhanced fundraising and strategic assistance in their 2008 campaigns against Republican incumbents.

The DCCC, which is looking to augment its majority beyond the 234 districts that Democrats effectively control in the 435-member House, identified 13 Democratic challengers — all running in contests that CQ Politics presently considers as highly or mildly competitive — as deserving of extra assistance. They comprise a second wave of what the DCCC calls its "Red to Blue" program because it endeavors to change the partisan representation of the districts from Republican "red" to Democratic "blue," in the color-coded argot of the political world.

"These candidates have come out of the gate strong and the Red to Blue Program will give them the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive in November," DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in a statement.

The DCCC in January identified 10 districts in the program's first phase — all but one where Republican incumbents are not seeking re-election because of retirement or resignation. The exception was Indiana's 7th, where the DCCC helped local officeholder Andre Carson win a special election March 11, enabling him to succeed his late grandmother, Democrat Julia Carson.

Another district on the initial Red to Blue list has since flipped from Republican to Democratic control — Illinois' 14th, where Democratic scientist Bill Foster defeated Republican businessman Jim Oberweis in a special election on March 8 that installed Foster as the successor to resigned Republican Rep. J. Dennis Hastert, the former House Speaker.

All but three of the 13 Republican incumbents who are targeted in the DCCC's Wednesday announcement were elected or re-elected in 2006 with less than 55 percent of the vote. In the 2004 presidential election, President Bush took less than 55 percent of the vote in eight of the 13 districts — including in three where he lost to Democratic Sen. John Kerry .

Republican strategists have said throughout the 2007-08 election cycle that their most vulnerable incumbents are battle-tested, pointing to their victories in the anti-Republican election year of 2006. If Democrats could not defeat them in 2006, the strategists posit, then they are unlikely to unseat them in 2008.

The 13 Democratic challengers who comprise this second roster of "Red to Blue" candidates are listed here in alphabetical order by last name, followed by the districts in which they are running. The Republican incumbents who are seeking re-election are noted parenthetically.

• Kay Barnes, Missouri's 6th ( Sam Graves ). Barnes is among the best-funded Democratic challengers in the nation, in part because she is coming off an eight-year tenure as mayor of Kansas City, Mo., for which she received praise. Graves hasn't been seriously challenged by the Democrats since he was first elected in 2000 to succeed Democrat Pat Danner. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.

• Anne Barth, West Virginia's 2nd ( Shelley Moore Capito ). Barth jumped into this race in late January after state Sen. John Unger unexpectedly withdrew just before the candidate filing period ended. Barth is very familiar with the district as the longtime state director for legendary West Virginia Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd . Past Democratic challengers to Capito have struggled to raise money and to puncture her image as a well-liked, independent-minded legislator. CQ Politics rates this race as Republican Favored.

• Darcy Burner, Washington's 8th ( Dave Reichert ). Burner is waging a rematch of a 2006 campaign that she lost by 3 percentage points to Reichert, a second-term member who is one of eight Republicans from districts that President Bush did not win in the 2004 election. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.

• Robert Daskas, Nevada's 3rd ( Jon Porter ). Daskas is a top prosecutor in Clark County, Nevada's most populous jurisdiction and home to all of the district's residents in and around Las Vegas and Henderson. After easy wins in 2002 and 2004, Porter won a third term in 2006 by less than 2 percentage points. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.

• Steve Driehaus, Ohio's 1st ( Steve Chabot ). The so-called Battle of the Steves will play out in a politically competitive district in and around Cincinnati. This race hasn't received much national attention of late, in part because neither candidate was opposed in the March 4 primary election. Driehaus should be a strong opponent, though Chabot showed considerable political skill by winning re-election in a 2006 election year that was otherwise terrible for Ohio Republicans. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.

• Jim Himes, Connecticut's 4th ( Christopher Shays ). Himes, who has a background in investment banking, already is waging a well-funded challenge to Shays, a 10-term centrist who is the only House Republican from New England. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.

• Christine Jennings, Florida's 13th ( Vern Buchanan ). Jennings has been in the news less for her rematch campaign against Buchanan and more for a protracted challenge of the controversial 2006 result — a 369-vote Buchanan victory — that the Democratic-controlled House formally dismissed only last month. Republicans say this has perpetuated a "sore loser" image that will hamper Jennings' comeback effort. Democrats say that Buchanan's record is too conservative for the Sarasota-based 13th. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.

• Larry Kissell, North Carolina's 8th ( Robin Hayes ). Some Democratic activists groused that the national party hadn't done much in 2006 to help Kissell, a little-known educator who lost to Hayes by 329 votes. The DCCC's imprimatur in 2008 should help Kissell raise much more than the $800,000 he amassed for his 2006 effort. CQ Politics rates this race as No Clear Favorite.

• Suzanne Kosmas, Florida's 24th ( Tom Feeney ). Feeney has been an easy winner in three elections in this district, which takes in suburbs of Orlando and part of Florida's Space Coast. Kosmas is a former state representative. CQ Politics rates this race as Republican Favored.

• Eric Massa, New York's 29th ( John R. "Randy" Kuhl Jr. ) Massa, a retired Navy commander, is another rematch-minded Democratic challenger: he lost to Kuhl by 2 percentage points in 2006 in a district that includes the cities of Elmira and Corning and other territory in upstate New York's southern tier. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.

• Gary Peters, Michigan's 9th ( Joe Knollenberg ). Peters, a former state senator, is challenging Knollenberg, who is seeking a ninth term in a district that takes in politically competitive Oakland County suburbs near Detroit. Knollenberg in 2006 took an underwhelming 52 percent vote share against Nancy Skinner, a talk radio host and communications consultant who planned to run again. She withdrew in late February to defer to Peters. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.

But the biggest news Tuesday in Michigan's 9th didn't involve Peters. Jack Kevorkian, the doctor who assisted patients in suicide, announced Tuesday that he will run for Congress as an independent.

• Mark Schauer, Michigan's 7th ( Tim Walberg ). Schauer, a state senator from Battle Creek, the most populous jurisdiction in this south-central Michigan district, has actually raised more money in the 2007-08 campaign cycle and has more left to spend than Walberg, a conservative who unseated moderate Republican Rep. Joe Schwarz in a 2006 primary before winning unimpressively against an underfunded Democratic opponent. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.

• Dan Seals, Illinois' 10th ( Mark Steven Kirk ). Seals, a business consultant, raised nearly $2 million for a 2006 campaign against Kirk that netted him a respectable 47 percent vote share. Seals didn't get much recognition from the national party in that campaign, but he is getting a lot more attention for a 2008 rematch in which he may be aided by sharing a ticket with Democratic Sen. Barack Obama . The Seals-Kirk contest should be among the most expensive in the nation this year. Kirk, who has emphasized Republican centrism on social and environmental issues in his suburban Chicago district, has ramped up his fundraising operations; in fact, he raised more money in 2007 than any other House Republican. CQ Politics rates this race as Leans Republican.