This will be close to quick and dirty.
First off, the states which have seen the filing deadline pass are Illinois, Texas, West Virgnia, and Kentucky. We went 59 for 60 in those states, only missing out on a candidate in the 11th district of Texas.
Second, the states with deadlines in the next month are New Mexico (2/14), Ohio (2/16), Indiana (2/17), North Carolina (2/28), Mississippi (3/1), and Nebraska (3/1)
There's 50 seats in those 6 states, and by my latest count, five of them are uncontested.
More on the actual filing and other states is under the fold
are you there yet?
The uncontested seats are OH-8 (Republican leader Boehner), NC-5 (Virginia Foxx), NC-6 (Howard Coble), MS-1 (Roger Wicker), and MS-3 (Chip Pickering)
Here's the requirements to run.
Ohio
Filing deadline: 4PM on 2/16/2006
Requirements: $85 filing fee and 50 signatures (Source)
North Carolina
Filing Deadline: Noon on February 28th, 2006
Requirements: $1500 filing fee (Source)
Mississippi
Filing Deadline: March 1st, 2006
Requirements: $200 filing fee (Source)
Ohio and Mississippi appear to be the least challenging states. I'm pretty sure the $200 filing fee wasn't the reason why no Democrats opposed Wicker and Pickering. It was more along the lines of mass apathy. A condition which I hope is subsiding.
Here's some links to district maps: MS-01, MS-03, NC-05, NC-06, and OH-08
I'll go to a complete state listing, along with comparing this election to 2002 and 1998.
The other Uncontested seats, by state
Alabama
Filing Deadline: April 7th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $3,242 filing fee, subject to change by the Alabama Democratic Party before the filing period (Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: AL-1 (Bonner), AL-2 (Everett), AL-3 (Rogers), AL-4 (Aderholt), and AL-6 (Bachus)
Arkansas
Filing Deadline: April 4th, 2006
Filing Requirements: Unsure
Unopposed Republican Seats: AR-3 (Boozman)
California
Filing Deadline: March 10th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $1621 or 3000 signatures (submitted by February 23rd, 2006)
Unopposed Republican Seats: CA-3 (Lungren), CA-21 (Nunes), CA-22 (Thomas), and CA-44 (Calvert)
Florida
Filing Deadline: May 12th, 2006
Filing Requirements: Unsure on specifics
Unopposed Republican Seats: FL-10 (Young) and FL-12 (Putnam)
Georgia
Filing Deadline: April 28th, 2006
Filing Requirements: Unsure about that
Unopposed Republican Seats: GA-09 (Deal), GA-10 (Norwood), and GA-11 (Gingrey)
Iowa
Filing Deadline: March 17th, 2006
Filing Requirements: 1484 signatures in a manner detailed in the source link (Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: IA-04 (Latham)
Louisiana
Filing Deadline: August 11th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $600 to the state and $300 (which goes to the party), or 1000 signatures
Unopposed Republican Seats: LA-4 (McCrery), LA-5 (Alexander), LA-6 (Baker), and LA-7 (Boustany)
Michigan
Filing Deadline: May 16th, 2006
Filing Requirements: 1000 to 2000 signatures on a petition (Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: MI-3 (Ehlers)
Missouri
Filing Deadline: March 28th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $100
Unopposed Republican Seats: MO-7 (Blunt) and MO-8 (Emerson)
New Jersey
Filing Deadline: April 10th, 2006
Filing Requirements: 200 signatures
Unopposed Republican Seats: NJ-4 (Smith) and NJ-11 (Frelinghuysen)
New York
Filing Deadline: July 13th, 2006
Filing Requirements: Unsure
Unopposed Republican Seats: NY-3 (King) and NY-13 (Fossella)
Oklahoma
Filing Deadline: June 7th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $750 (as of 2004) or "In lieu of a fee, a candidate may file a petition supporting his candidacy which is signed by five percent (5%) of the registered voters eligible to vote for him in the first election wherein his name could appear on the ballot." (Source). Your Mileage may vary.
Unopposed Republican Seats: OK-1 (Sullivan) and OK-4 (Cole)
Oregon
Filing Deadline: March 7th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $100 filing fee (Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: OR-2 (Walden)
Pennsylvania
Filing Deadline: March 7th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $150 and 1000 signatures (Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: PA-5 (Peterson)
South Carolina
Filing Deadline: Noon on March 30th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $1621 (1% of the salary, Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: SC-2 (Wilson) and SC-4 (Inglis)
Tennessee
Filing Deadline: Noon on April 6th, 2006
Filing Requirements: 25 Signatures on a Petition (Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: TN-1 (Jenkins), TN-2 (Duncan), and TN-7 (Blackburn)
Utah
Filing Deadline: March 17th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $387 (Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: UT-3 (Cannon)
Virginia
Filing Deadline: 5PM on April 14th, 2006
Filing Requirements: $3304 filing fee and 1000 signatures (Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: VA-4 (Forbes), VA-6 (Goodlatte), and VA-7 (Cantor)
Washington
Filing Deadline: July 28th, 2006
Filing Requirements: Unsure, check here for more information.
Unopposed Republican Seats: WA-5 (McMorris)
Wisconsin
Filing Deadline: July 11th, 2006
Filing Requirements: 1,000 to 2,000 signatures (Source)
Unopposed Republican Seats: WI-6 (Petri)
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Comparing the Number of candidates in 2006 to 2002 and 1998
Right now, we have candidates in 387 districts.
In 2002, we had candidates in 386 districts.
In 1998, we had candidates in 383 districts.
The number of candidates in Presidential election years is higher (399 in 2004, 404 in 2000).
Right now, we're on a good pace and I think we will top the number of candidates fielded in 2000.
Here's a countdown of the last few months:
"We'll move on to the unopposed districts. There's 98 by my count. A number which is due to decrease dramatically" - 11/25/05
"Only 76 Unopposed Republicans left for Election 2006!" - 12/22/05
"Uncontested House Races (52 unchallenged Republicans)" - 2/1/06
For Reference:
The 10 uncontested districts where Bush got the lowest H2H percentage in 2004-
10 - FL-12 (Putnam), 58/42 Bush
09 - WA-05 (McMorris), 58/42 Bush
08 - NJ-11 (Frelinghuysen), 58/42 Bush
07 - VA-04 (Forbes), 57/43 Bush
06 - WI-06 (Petri), 57/43 Bush
05 - NJ-04 (Smith), 56/44 Bush
04 - NY-13 (Fossella), 55/45 Bush
03 - NY-03 (King), 52/48 Bush
02 - IA-04 (Latham), 51/49 Bush
01 - FL-10 (Young), 51/49 Bush
A mix of the entrenched and the lucky.
Another fact:
12 - The number of uncontested districts where Bush got over 2/3rds of the vote (in the H2H Bush/Kerry divide I use)
And now, the audience interaction part:
a) tips/rumors (possible candidates)
b) declarations of amazement that certain people are unopposed
c) requests for info on candidates
d) declarations about how we're not really in a good position in Utah
e) ideas of who could run (if you have that much knowledge, extra points to you if your candidate doesn't have to move to the district to run there)
So yeah, lay em on me!