Call me pessimistic, but I think it's incredibly unlikely for us to retake the House this year. I think there's even a decent chance that we lose seats. The path to a net 17 victories doesn't seem feasible this year. I do think we can pull it off in 2016 due to Presidential-level turnout and strong recruitment that would come from running with Hillary. So what should the DCCC do with its resources this year?
Protect incumbents and target a few vulnerable seats. Realistically, to have a shot at picking up 17 seats (really more like 20 given red district retirements), you're probably going to have to target at least 30. That's spreading resources incredibly thin, and I think going for the win would actually be detrimental to key races. Instead, I'd like to see them target around dozen very winnable races. If national resources are concentrated that way, I think we'll have a good shot at picking up quite a few seats and give ourselves more of an offensive buffer for 2016.
That's not to say that people shouldn't donate their time and money to races they see as important. I'm just saying that this probably isn't our year as far as the House goes, and that we should be thinking of this election more as a build towards 2016 than as the be-all-end-all.