Remember all those posts we had as we worked to recruit candidates in all House races this year. You know, the ones that led Stuart Rothenberg to
mock Chris Bowers?
Blogger Chris Bowers at MyDD perhaps is the best example of how clueless some bloggers really are about politics.
Last summer, he penned a piece, "DCCC Not Aggressive Enough," in which he complained about his party's House campaign committee. Now, in a two-part series called "Taking Back the House," he insists "we need to attack everywhere."
"I want 80 serious challenges to GOP House incumbents every two years and a Democratic name on the ballot in all 435 districts," he demands. "I have had enough of just targeting the twenty or so top races - let's engage in a full-frontal assault. ... The first step is to identify eighty Republicans against who we could mount a serious challenge."
It is undeniably true that you can't defeat an incumbent if you don't run someone against him. So, yes, it's better for a party to field candidates in 435 districts, if possible.
But some Republicans didn't have Democratic opponents because they were unbeatable, and no Democrat wanted to waste his or her time (to say nothing about money) by running. You can't make a race competitive simply by putting a name on the ballot, and the Democrats would not hold even a single additional seat had they put a name on the ballot in every district during the past two cycles [...]
As for Bowers' assertion that he wants "80 serious challenges" to GOP incumbents next year, he might as well ask for 120 or 150. I want vacation houses in Napa Valley and Palm Beach, and I'd like to be 35 years old again. "If wishes were horses, beggars might ride," as the English proverb puts it.
Well, turns out that maybe, just maybe, it was a good idea to run candidates.
"Most of the House seats that the Republicans have all but conceded were not on analysts' radar screens at the beginning of the election cycle. For example, Democrats didn't even field a candidate to challenge Rep. Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania in 2002 and 2004. They finally did this year -- and have seen their chances of defeating Sherwood skyrocket, because publicity over an extramarital affair in which his mistress accused him of trying to choke her has left the incumbent trailing badly in polls for the last several months.
"In recent cycles, Republicans in conservative districts could count on winning even if they ran weak campaigns. That was certainly the case with Reps. John Hostettler of Indiana and Charles Taylor of North Carolina. This year, both are in serious trouble because they can't rely on their party label to push them over the top."
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