It's not a new concept for regular readers -- the notion that we have to contest every House race, no matter how hopeless the cause. Every cycle, without fail, lightning strikes.
Yet it's a task which political report extraordinaire Chuck Todd (National Journal) thinks the DCCC has failed. In a far ranging discussion on the country's top House and Senate races (a discussion that will likely make their way into more blog posts than this one), Todd repeatedly cited the GOP's aggressive House tactics as key to their electoral success. And key to that GOP strategy?
"[Republicans] had a candidate in every race," Todd said. "And when the tidal wave came, they had the candidates to take advantage of it." Sound familiar? While Chuck doesn't see a 1994-style tidal wave in the books, he doesn't discount it if Kerry can surge. But he does believe the DCCC's sub-par recruitment efforts have hampered Democratic efforts to take back the House in what may be a potentially favorable year.
It's particularly frustrating, since our special election victories this year in South Dakota and Kentucy show that Democrats can win anywhere when we put our best candidate forward. As Todd noted, Democrats ran their first choice while Republicans ran their second choice. When all was said and done, Democrats had taken two red House districts in two red states.
Of course, running the best candidate is always easier said than done. In many safe GOP districts, the best Democratic candidate has no interest in waging a fruitless and thankless battle likely to end in defeat. That doesn't excuse the DCCC from failing to field candidates in places like Arizona 08, where republicans hold a district Bush won with 50 percent.
Ironically, Todd says it used to be the other way around. But being the minority part in Congress has repercussions in many places -- recruiting being one of them. It's hard to make the investment when a tough victory means serving powerless in the minority.