Like many others, I have been very pessimistic when it comes to Dems retaking the House this election cycle. To a certain extent, I still am. However, looking at the opportunities being handed to us by the GOP, it's hard not to get excited about this years prospects for a takeover, or at least gains.
In KY, SD, and LA, we have 3 Congressional Republican seats, ALL of which, in 2004, SHOULD HAVE been safe Republican seats. Fletcher in KY no doubt would have won re-election had he not run for Governor. Thanks to Kerr painting herself as a Bush clone, we took that one almost too easily. Janklow was not controversial in the House, and very popular in SD, it would've taken a titanic effort to beat him since he would have had the advantage of incumbency. Tauzin too, even while being a former Democrat, was safely entrenched in his seat in Louisiana.
I live in LA and so therefore I despise Tauzin. The idea that he doesn't have to resign after his Medicare lobbying, then being offered the top lobbyist job for the people lobbying him on the bill, is wrong and just criminal. He is not running for re-election, and his District, thanks to him, is very winnable. SD with Herseth, as she proved last time, is very winnable.
It's exciting. Take these remaining two seats, since we already got KY, and we are HALFWAY to making up the Tom Delay deficit of seats that he forced on us. All 3 seats were counted on to be safe Republican seats, all 3, if they go Democratic, will go a long way towards effectively neutralizing the Texas effect. It's hard not to get excited about that.
Send money to Herseth, send money to LA when Tauzin's opponent emerges. I am starting to wonder how many other "safe" seats the Republicans will screw up and make races of. Prospects are certainly dim for taking the House back. But eating into the Republican majority would be a HUGE upset, especially after Tom Delay desperately tried to end any Democratic hopes for the next 10-20 years. Just seeing the look on his face at having lost a few seats, or the House majority, would make it all worth it.