The boys in blue are back at work:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), chaired by Congressman Chris Van Hollen, today announced the DCCC is launching a Putting Families First ad and grassroots campaign in 28 targeted Republican districts. The ads focus on the Republicans out of step priorities by putting bank bail outs and building schools in Iraq before the needs of the Americans in the struggling economy. The Putting Families First ads begin airing on Tuesday morning during drive time and will run for a week.
So who are we going after this time?
Well, before we unveil the list, keep in mind that it's so early in the cycle, there's no real way of knowing which districts will be competitive. By and large, we don't have candidates yet, we don't know who might be retiring and where there might be open seats, and we don't know what the political climate will be like.
Still, the DCCC has fired an initial first salvo against the following Representatives...and there are some big surprises on the list.
Representative Don Young AK-AL
Representative Dan Lungren CA-03
Representative Elton Gallegly CA-24
Representative Ken Calvert CA-44
Representative Brian Bilbray CA-50
Representative Bill Young FL-10
Representative Tom Rooney FL-16
Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart FL-21
Representative Mario Diaz-Balart FL-25
Representative Tom Latham IA-04
Representative Donald Manzullo IL-16
Representative Brett Guthrie KY-02
Representative Joseph Cao LA-02
Representative John Fleming LA-04
Representative Bill Cassidy LA-06
Representative Roscoe Bartlett MD-06
Representative Thad McCotter MI-11
Representative Michele Bachmann MN-06
Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer MO-09
Representative Lee Terry NE-02
Representative Leonard Lance NJ-07
Representative Christopher Lee NY-26
Representative Henry Brown SC-01
Representative Pete Sessions TX-32
Representative Eric Cantor VA-07
Representative Dave Reichert WA-08
Representative James Sensenbrenner WI-05
Representative Shelley Moore-Capito WV-02
Many of these folks have either been on the DCCC target list one or both of the past two cycles, or have had competitive races anyway (like Thad McCotter and Ken Calvert, both of whom won surprisingly narrow victories in 2006).
There are a few especially interesting names on this list, though.
Ancient Rep. Bill Young of Florida is one guy who could be pushed into retirement, and perhaps it's even possible to give him a scare if he sticks around. Obama won his district 51-47, and the district sported an old PVI of D+1.
Elton Gallegly of California, who nearly retired in 2006, is another possibility for a "forced retirement". We don't yet know how Obama did in CA-24; he probably lost it, but by a fairly close margin. He may actually have won it, which could have led to the DCCC listing this as a target.
Don Manzullo of Illinois saw his district go for Obama by eight points, 53-45. He joins the list of hunted Republicans.
Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland is roughly 2 million years old, and though he inhabits an extremely tough Western Maryland district - even more conservative than Democrat Frank Kratovil's R+10 district - the DCCC apparently figured it was worth the trouble.
Finally, here are (to my eye) the three most interesting names on the list.
You can run up and down the halls of Capitol Hill searching for the most odious salesman of right-wing mania, and you won't find one better than Wisconsin's James Sensenbrenner.
In 2006, Rolling Stone Magazine labeled Sensenbrenner the second-worst Congressman on Capitol Hill, affectionately referring to him as "The Dictator".
109th Congress than Sensenbrenner, chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee. His solution to hot-button issues is always the same: Lock 'em up. Sensenbrenner has proposed legislation that would turn 12 million undocumented immigrants into felons, subject any adult selling a joint to a teenager to at least ten years in prison, and incarcerate college kids for failing to narc on their hallmates. He also wants to prosecute anyone who utters an obscenity on the air. Big fines just aren't tough enough for indecent broadcasts: As Sensenbrenner told a group of cable executives last year, "I'd prefer using the criminal process rather than the regulatory process."
Naturally, Sensenbrenner vaulted up the chain of command in the Gingrich/DeLay years, ultimately becoming Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee:
Sensenbrenner's iron-fisted rule of the judiciary committee was on nationwide display last year during a televised debate over reauthorization of the Patriot Act. When Democrats began discussing the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, the chairman abruptly ended the meeting and cut off their microphones. When Democrats refused to leave the room, Sensenbrenner's staff pulled the plug on C-Span and turned out the lights. As The Daily Show host Jon Stewart put it, "He literally took his gavel and went home."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called Sensenbrenner's abuse of power "disgraceful." But Democrats should take heart: The GOP chairman is an equal-opportunity bully. "He treats us all equally," says Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.). "He treats us all like dogs."
That very same year, the right-wing Human Events named him their Congressman of the Year. Shocking.
Sensenbrenner has ever been considered safe in a district as conservative as Bartlett's, with a PVI of R+12.5.
Nevertheless, perhaps no district is safe for a maniac like Sensenbrenner, particularly one who raises less than $500,000 per cycle for his reelection bids.
For the Chairman of the NRCC, there are surely few things more embarrassing than having to waste time defending your own seat. Yet apparently, that's what new Chairman Pete Sessions may have to do in 2010, as former chair Tom Reynolds did in 2006.
Sessions' district enjoyed a remarkable Democratic shift in 2008, continuing an extended Democratic trend. The district voted for Bush 64-36 in 2000, 60-40 in 2004...and gave McCain just 53% of the vote to 46% for Barack Obama in 2008.
Sessions was DeLaymandered into a district with powerful Democratic Rep. Martin Frost in 2004, the last time Petey faced a serious challenge. With his district trending blue, perhaps the new Pachyderm Captain should tend to his own garden once again.
Finally, the most dangerous and exciting game of all; the DCCC is hitting the mastermind of Republican opposition to the stimulus, the biggest rising Republican star in the House and the chief lieutenant to John Boehner...House Minority Whip Eric Cantor.
As the younger, more telegenic alternative to the grim Boehner, Cantor has positioned himself as the public and private face of Republican opposition and obstinacy.
The more prominent he makes himself, however...the stronger he opposes federal assistance for working families...the more vulnerable he makes his own carcass in a district which gave Barack Obama 46% of the vote in 2008.
So just keep barking, Eric.