Edit: I'll try this title for now.
Yet another dry diary from me.
First off, congratulations to the DCCC on the release of the first version of their Candidate Database.
Now, we'll move on to the unopposed districts. There's 98 by my count. A number which is due to decrease dramatically (36 Republicans were not opposed by Democrats in 2004, a year which was much worse for the Democrats)
Anyways, we'll go state by state, and if you have comments, contribute them, if you have rumors of candidates running, contribute them, if you're a guy who wants to run, search for candidate's information from your state.
And now, under the fold, the information!
Alabama: Both my count, Politics1, and the DCCC confirm that nobody has filed to run against the 5 Republican Congressmen in Alabama. Even if one of the districts is winnable (AL-3), the rest should be contested. There's 4 months left to file, so if anybody else is planning some sort of cheap campaign, they have time. If a guy has a pile of money, he has time too.
Alaska: The DCCC lists Frank Vondersaar as a candidate. But considering the fact that Vondersaar got smashed by Ted Stevens (78%-11%), it's probably better to treat this as an empty seat. I'm sure a search of the state could produce somebody who wants to run for Congress. Although unlike most states which elected a lot of Kerry delegates to the DNC, this state elected a lot of Kucinich delegates.
Arizona: Trent Franks (who caved on the Drug Plan vote in 2003) has no opponent. He faced Randy Camacho twice, winning by 20 points. If Camacho or another figure wants to run, then they'll have until June to file. As well, I am happy over another candidate running in AZ-3 (Shadegg). Shadegg didn't face a Dem in 2004, and in 2006, he'll face Don Chilton or Herb Paine. Hopefully some other candidates step up in AZ-5 (Hayworth) and AZ-6 (Flake). No offense to the candidates who have filed there, but there's nothing wrong with friendly competition.
Arkansas: Arkansas lacks elected Republicans, thankfully. They also lack an opponent to John Boozman. Boozman's Northwest Arkansas district might seem unfriendly, especially with former AR-3 Representative Asa Hutchinson running for Governor.
California: Where to start? Herger (CA-2) is unopposed. He's been in office for a long time. Dan Lungren (CA-3) is also unopposed. Radanovich (CA-19) is unopposed as well. Same for Nunes (CA-21), Thomas (CA-22), McKeon (CA-25), Lewis (CA-41), and Calvert (CA-44). With the filing ending in March, expect this list to narrow down. And hopefully Lewis Myers sets up a website for his run against Gary Miller. This is a big state for Dems, so I hope we stand up to guys like Jerry Lewis and Bill Thomas.
Delaware: Nobody has filed to take on the former Governor of Delaware/7 term representative Mike Castle. I would imagine that the typical procedure will lead to somebody running, and I hope that starts soon.
Florida: The main points of agreement between the lists of candidates are as follows.. Crenshaw (FL-4), Mica (FL-7), Young (FL-10), Putnam (FL-12), Mack (FL-14), Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18), and Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25) are all unopposed. Only Crenshaw, Mica, and Mario Diaz-Balart had no Democratic opponents in 2004. Young's district is pretty purple, so if anybody out there is randomly reading this, remember, if you run strong in 2006, you set yourself up well for when Young retires. Dave Weldon also has an opponent (Timothy Shipe, who is unknown to me). Illena Ros-Lehtinen's husband Dexter also wrote columns attacking Kerry last year. Although it's interesting how Dexter Lehtinen didn't mention that he was married to a Republican representative for those columns.
Georgia: Nobody has filed to face Linder (GA-6), Price (GA-7), Norwood (GA-9), Deal (GA-10), and Gingrey (GA-11). It would be easier to mention the people who are running (Rev. Jim Nelson in GA-1 and Patrick Pillion in GA-3). I hear the Georgia Dems are working on recruiting candidates and I wish them the best. Oh yeah, check out Jim Nelson's site, he's running against known Republican bigmouth Jack Kingston. His site has a good setup, and if you want to sock it to a Redstate poster like Kingston, you can do something to help Rev. Jim out in his uphill battle.
Illinois: Nobody has officially filled to take on Ray LaHood (IL-18). Rumors exist though. IL-19 needs some work, candidate-wise. But we're very close to the deadline in Illinois (December 19th is the deadline). So I hope we can get some people to face LaHood.
Indiana: Dan Burton (IN-5) is still unopposed, and from most of what I hear and see, he's in a very red district. So the chance of a nominal opponent filing is out there.
Iowa: Tom Latham (IA-4) is still officially unopposed. But expect somebody to run. Rumors exist. Latham's district gave 49% to Kerry. It's winnable if somebody goes for the district.
Kansas: Nobody's stepped up to face Jim Ryun or Todd Tiahrt. Ryun faced a tough challenge in 2004. Tiahrt hasn't had a big challenge since 1996.
Kentucky: Officially, nobody has stepped up to Northup (KY-3), Geoff Davis (KY-4) or Hal Rogers (KY-5). But rumors exist of a Northup/Gerald Neal matchup or a Davis/Ken Lucas match. Davis has definately stuck out with his talk radio-esque quotes attacking John Murtha. I would hope our Kentucky friends find some good opponents to beat Northup and Davis. And an opponent for Rogers too.
Louisiana: With an August filing deadline, and no real idea of the political climate, the mood in Louisiana is different than the rest of the US. I don't know who is rumored to take on McCrery (LA-4), Alexander (LA-5), Baker (LA-6), and Boustany (LA-7). Hopefully we can get though this election in Louisiana without losing a seat due to an intraparty feud.
Michigan: Nobody has filed to take on Ehlers (MI-3) or Schwarz (MI-7). Of course, rumors exist. Schwarz is in danger of losing a primary to a Norquistista candidate. Michigan is a state that we could do well in.
Minnesota: Jim Ramstad (MN-3). After the DFL won a State Senate seat in Ramstad's district, I hope somebody is looking towards running against Ramstad in 2006. His district is purple. It gave Kerry 49%!. Anyways, if somebody runs hard now, they'll be in a good position for the future.
Mississippi: Nobody has stood up to face Wicker (MS-1) or Pickering (MS-3). The state is pretty tough for the Dems these days, although I would hope somebody would step up to face a friend of Rove like Roger Wicker.
Missouri: Nobody has filed to face the Majority Leader (in name only) Roy Blunt (MO-7) or Jo Ann Emerson (MO-8). With the possibility of Blunt being confirmed to actually be the Majority leader or scandals touching him, don't be stunned if somebody actually runs against him. As for Jo Ann Emerson, her district is pretty red, although there's a good base in the boothill for Democrats.
Nebraska: Freshman Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (NE-1) has no official opponent. I would hope that Connealy or somebody would run for this seat.
New Jersey: Chris Smith (NJ-4) and Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11) are unopposed right now, unfortunately. Of course, people will work to change that, and I wish them the best.
New Mexico: No official opponent for NM-2 (Steve Pearce). The district isn't too red (58/42 Bush) and I would hope somebody could run in that district.
New York: Nobody has filed to face Peter King (NY-3) or Vito Fossella (NY-13). Rumors exist for opponents to face Fossella (who won 59-41 in 2004). As for King, i'll let you mention rumors. Some guy named Brian Goodell has filed to face Boehlert, but expect that field to expand. Although Boehlert might always retire like Kolbe did.
North Carolina: An opponent (Craig Weber) is listed by the DCCC against Jones (NC-3). An opponent (Allen Joines) is rumored to face Foxx (NC-5). Nobody is rumored to be facing Coble (NC-6). People named Bill Glass and Anne Fischer are also listed by the DCCC as candidates. Glass facing Myrick and Fischer facing McHenry.
Ohio: We've covered this a lot. Nobody has filed to face Chabot (OH-1), replace Oxley (OH-4), face Boehner (OH-8), or face Tiberi (OH-12). Chabot and Tiberi are in Purple Districts (which face Kerry around 48% to 49%)
Oklahoma: For a state with around a million registered Democrats, none of them seem to be wanting to run for Congress. Sullivan (OK-1), Frank Lucas (OK-3), and Tom Cole (OK-4) are all unopposed. Although Oklahoma does has a list of state and county officers, if anybody wants to skim though a list of the extensive Yellow Dog Bench in the state.
Oregon: No official opponent for Greg Walden (OR-2). Granted, the closest the Dems came to winning this seat was when Wes Cooley was refusing to drop out of his race in 1996.
Pennsylvania: No opponents for John Peterson (PA-5), Bill Shuster (PA-9), or Charles Dent (PA-15). Dent is in a very winnable district (which is split 50/50 between Bush and Kerry voters). The other two are in red parts of the state.
South Carolina: No opponents for Henry Brown (SC-1), "Joe" Wilson (SC-2), or Bob Inglis (SC-4). I think that contesting every Republican seat would be pretty cool. I don't know if that's happened recently. And best of luck to Lee Ballenger who is running against Gresham Barrett.
Tennessee: No opponents for Bill Jenkins (TN-1), John Duncan (TN-2), and Marsha Blackburn (TN-7). Jenkins is in a deep red district which has voted for Republicans since the big bang. Duncan is also in that area, although he had the sense to vote against the IWR. Blackburn is in a district that is Southwest of Nashville (I think). Blackburn was unopposed in 2004.
Texas: No opponents for the DeLaymander Freshmen Gohmert (TX-1), Poe (TX-2), and Conaway (TX-11). No opponents for Granger (TX-13), Bonilla (TX-23), Marchant (TX-24), or Burgess (TX-26). Robert Ricketts is listed as a candidate in TX-19. Will Pryor is one of the rumored candidates to face Sessions in TX-32.
Utah: Nobody at the moment. Bishop (UT-1) and Cannon (UT-3) will likely have an opponent, although if anybody has open plans for 2006 and they're a Utahn, then maybe running against a Republican would be interesting. You can even write a book about it.
Virginia: The list has narrowed to Randy Forbes (VA-4), Bob Goodlatte (VA-6), Eric Cantor (VA-7), and Frank Wolf (VA-10). With the recent Kaine victory, expect the efforts to find Democratic candidates to intensify.
Washington: Nobody official in WA-4 (Hastings) or WA-5 (McMorris). I'd expect an opponent to file first to face McMorris.
Wisconsin: In one of the birthplaces of the GOP, Tom Petri (WI-6) stands without an opponent. And I hope that changes.
So yes, that's all, but here's a list of filing deadlines for the states I mentioned!
Illinois - December 19th, 2005
Texas - January 2nd, 2006
Kentucky - 4PM on January 31st, 2006
Ohio - February 16th, 2006
Indiana - Noon on February 17th, 2006
North Carolina - Noon on February 28th, 2006
Mississippi - March 1st, 2006
Nebraska - March 1st, 2006
Oregon - March 7th, 2006
Pennsylvania - March 7th, 2006
California - March 10th, 2006
Iowa - March 17th, 2006
Utah - March 17th, 2006
Missouri - March 28th, 2006
New Mexico - March 29th, 2006
South Carolina - Noon on March 30th, 2006
Arkansas - Noon on April 4th, 2006
Tennessee - Noon on April 6th, 2006
Alabama - April 7th, 2006
New Jersey - April 10th, 2006
Virginia - 5pm on April 14th, 2006
Georgia - April 28th, 2006
Florida - May 12th, 2006
Michigan - 4pm on May 16th, 2006
Alaska - June 1st, 2006
Oklahoma - June 7th, 2006
Kansas - June 12th, 2006
Arizona - June 14th, 2006
Wisconsin - July 11th, 2006
New York - July 13th, 2006
Minnesota - July 18th, 2006
Delaware - Noon on July 28th, 2006
Washington - July 28th, 2006
Louisiana - August 11th, 2006
So yes, contribute rumors, frustrated rants, and feedback!