CA-11: GOP targets McNerney

In the establishment world, Jerry McNerney's victory in CA-11 was a fluke, and Republicans have been smarting over that loss since Election Day 2006.  While they've been snipping at McNerney from even before he took his oath for office, today marked the official launch of the NRCC's efforts against McNerney.

The Republican National Campaign Committee, which spent tens of thousands of dollars in an unsuccessful effort to save former Tracy Rep. Richard Pombo last fall, has included McNerney in its first round of targets posted on www.therealdemocratstory.com.

The NRCC will also send about 100,000 e-mails into McNerney's 11th District highlighting their criticism of the freshman Democrat's voting record.

"Jerry McNerney needs to explain to his constituents why his voting record is identical to that of the San Francisco Speaker Nancy Pelosi," NRCC spokesman Ken Spain said. "His voters didn't send him to be liberal lap dog of the Democrat Party. If Jerry McNerney is so interested in representing the liberal interests of San Francisco voters, then maybe he should have considered running for office there."

McNerney has voted with Nancy Pelosi 100 percent of the time so far this year.

A Public Policy Institute of California poll released today shows that 49 percent of Central Valley residents approve of the way Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doing her job, while 30 disapprove.

I know I shouldn't mock this effort, considering that they're going to throw millions in negative ads and dirty tricks against Jerry by the end of the 2008 cycle.

But really, the GOP plan is to spam people with the charge that McNerney supports the popular speaker's popular agenda?

Which part of the Pelosi agenda will residents of the Bluing district (we're talking just inland of the Bay Area) object to? Voting to enact the recommendations of the 9/11 commission? Voting for a withdrawal deadline in Iraq? Voting for an increase in the minimum wage? Funding for stem cell research? Cutting student loan rates? Repeal of huge tax cuts for energy companies enjoying record profits, and using the savings to fund renewal energy projects?

What's most hilarious is that McNerney explicitly ran on this platform. The Pelosi-led Congress delivered exactly what he promised the voters.

I went to check out that PPI poll (PDF), and it had all sorts of great info. While the Central Valley as a whole is more conservative than McNerney's corner of it, the numbers still look great for him. Like 55% percent of "Central Valley residents oppose an escalation of the war in Iraq, 67 percent want health care reform, and while not broken down by region, Bush's approval rating in the state is at a 28-69 level, with (according to the report) high levels of discontent in all regions.

Also, when asked, "Overall do you approve or disapprove of the way your own representative to the U.S. House of Representatives in Congress is handling his or her job?", Central Valley respondents approved 58-20.

McNerney is going to get a tough challenge, and it'll be up to the same army of grassroots volunteers that helped him get elected to make sure he survives what will be a vicious challenge. But if nothing else, these early NRCC efforts provide comic relief before the mud truly starts flying.

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Meanwhile, going to that "The Real Democrat Story" site, we get a preview of the NRCC's top target list in 2008:

Jason Altmire (PA-04)
Nancy Boyda (KS-02)
Chris Carney (PA-10)
Brad Ellsworth (IN-08)
Steve Kagan (WI-08)
Tim Mahoney (FL-16)
Harry Mitchell (AZ-05)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)
Heath Shuler (NC-11)
Zack Space (OH-18)