There have been reports of a definite bias against incumbents recently. If this lasts until November, it's likely that the DCCC will concentrate on defending Democratic incumbents. (After all, it's owned by incumbents.) And, in a year of anti-incumbent feelings, defending your own incumbents rather than trying to defeat the incumbents of the other party is a formula for guaranteed failure. You'll win some of the battles you pick and lose some of the battles you pick. Each loss will be a net loss of a seat; each win will be a seat unchanged.
The netroots should be marshaling its resources to support challengers to Republican incumbents. (Which means, in districts where this is still an option this late in the political season, seeing that there is a genuine progressive opponent to a Republican incumbent.) Considering that people see Washington as a swamp where nothing gets done, and that most Republicans have spent the past year keeping anything from getting done, there should be a lot of ammunition.
And we don't have to wait for the candidate to come forward. We can -- at minimum -- write LTEs to the paper about the worst votes of the nearest Republican congressman or senator.
Some examples after the jump.
"After doing my taxes, I looked at what I would have paid on this income last year. I found out the Obama tax cut saved me $80. Why did Representative Jones vote against the Obama tax cut?"
"The story yesterday on the teacher layoffs at Benjamin Pierce High School was tragic, but it could have been worse. Twice as many teachers would have been laid off if the school hadn't received stimulus funds from the federal government. And it wouldn't have if Representative Smith's vote against the stimulus bill had prevailed."
"Your editorial yesterday on the need for federal action on XXXX was spot on. It didn't mention, however, that this -- and scores more of deep national needs -- are in abeyance while Senator Brown keeps voting for filibusters on simple procedural matters to keep the senate from taking any action at all."
I'm sure that you could write better on any concrete issue. I don't want to put words in your mouth. I merely want to put paper in your typewriter.